


When You Least Expect It

by postboxinheaven



Series: Unexpected [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - High School, Crack, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Slow Burn, i don't even remember writing this, i have no explanation, i honestly don't know what this is, please don't ask me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:32:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14055009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postboxinheaven/pseuds/postboxinheaven
Summary: Sehun is a freshman with dreams of the perfect high school experience. His dreams are quickly crushed when he realizes that things aren't going to go the way he planned.





	When You Least Expect It

**Author's Note:**

> Man this fic is a WILD RIDE. Honestly I wrote this in 2014 when I was still in high school and I don’t know what I was on bc this is really crack-y and strange. Anyways, I hope you enjoy whatever this mess is!

  
"I let you win."  
  
Sehun rolls his eyes at his best friend. "Jongin, both of us know that you suck at Mario Kart. I don't even know why you keep trying."  
  
"Just wait, I'll beat you one day," Jongin states indignantly. Sehun eyes the clock on the wall and notices that it’s already 3:00 am.  
  
“I’m gonna sleep,” Sehun yawns and flops over onto the pile of pillows and blankets they had laid out on Sehun’s basement floor. Jongin joins him and they stare up at the ceiling in a comfortable silence. “Everything’s gonna change in two days isn’t it?” Nervousness creeps into Sehun’s mind at the prospect of starting over again.  
  
“Not everything,” Jongin counters in an uncharacteristically serious voice. “This won’t.”  
  
“This?” Sehun internally laughs at Jongin’s sappiness.  
  
He turns to Jongin to see him smirking and shoving his phone into Sehun’s face.  
  
“All the girls and boys in school will still be begging me to date them. Look at this text Bomi just sent me. She wants me so bad,” Jongin cracks up and Sehun punches him in the gut. Repeatedly.  
  
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry” Jongin wheezes, still laughing. Sehun relents and rolls back over. “I know you’re freaking out about everything changing Sehun, but I mean it. We’ll get through this together. Maybe we’ll even have fun in the process,” Jongin assures Sehun. Sehun chuckles quietly. 

 This side of Jongin is a rare sight. Their friendship consists mostly of mutual insults and physical violence, but it reminds Sehun of why he puts up with his best friend's conceitedness on a daily basis.  
  
“Your idea of fun is trying to get drunk every Friday night and hooking up with the entire student body,” Sehun sighs. “I think I’ll pass,” Sehun states, full well knowing that there’s no way Jongin is going to leave him alone.

Sehun had always been more of a bookworm, but Jongin manages to drag Sehun into his adventures on a weekly basis. Although the adventures consist mostly of them lazing around their local comic book store, now that they're going to high school Sehun is guessing that Jongin will try to switch up the content.  
  
“That’s cute. You actually think I’ll let you.” Jongin coos with a disgustingly sweet voice that makes Sehun feel more like a preschooler than a freshman in high school.  
  
“Shut up and go to sleep,” Sehun grumbles, and for once Jongin actually listens to him. Minutes later he hears Jongin’s light snores and drifts into a peaceful sleep himself.  


 

 

 

  
  
Sehun's shoulders are already aching as he trudges along the sidewalk, backpack filled to brim with empty notebooks and what feels like 3 pounds worth of pencils. The sun is hot on his skin and he's seriously regretting the black skinny jeans he’s currently wearing.  
  
"How are you not dying right now?" he asks Jongin, short of breath.  
  
"You've been dancing for 6 years and yet your stamina is worse than my 80 year old grandfather’s?" Jongin fires back.  
  
"At least I-" Sehun begins to counter, only to be cut off by the blaring music of a car that passes them. It stops at a red light ahead. Sehun hears the familiar saxophone from Thrift Shop playing and a bunch of guys screaming along the lyrics. The Honda Odyssey looks like it's about to tip over due to the amount of movement inside the car, and Sehun can't help but think that those boys look really stupid. The stoplight turns green and the car drives away, and Sehun hears a deep baritone voice yelling "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL" out the rolled down window. When the car is finally out of sight, Sehun turns to Jongin. “Promise me that we will never become that.”  
  
“The stupidity burns my eyes,” Jongin replies in agreement.  
  
“Yeah, they almost look as stupid as you do,” Sehun teases receiving a glare. “ _Almost_ ,” Sehun reiterates and sprints away to avoid Jongin’s wrath. Ten minutes later, Sehun feels disgusting and sweaty as he steps through the double doors of a large brick building.

“Well here it is. Our prison for the next four years,” Jongin deadpans. A faculty member passes by them and eyes Jongin judgmentally, probably due to the outfit he’s sporting.  
  
“Jongin you’re showing more skin than you’re covering right now. Put on a goddamn sweater or something, the teachers are looking at you,” Sehun grumbles. He wouldn’t be surprised if his best friend got dress coded on the first day. Why is he even best friends with this dumbass?  
  
“These jeans accentuate my ass perfectly. Putting on a sweater would completely take away from the aesthetic pleasure,” Jongin reasons.  
  
“The aesthetic pleasure of your ass,” Sehun drones monotonously.  
  
“You gotta give the people what they want Sehun, and they  _want_  my ass,” Jongin smirks at him and Sehun is tempted to turn around and walk away.  
  
They make their way into the auditorium to pick up schedules and Sehun doesn’t know whether to feel happy or upset that he has three classes with Jongin. They sit through boring presentations that basically translate to “don’t graffiti the bathroom walls or throw things at your teachers” and the principal makes them recite the school fight song in order to generate school spirit. Half an hour later, the entire freshman class spills into the hallways frantically searching for their first period classrooms.  
  
As Jongin and Sehun walk to Honors Biology together, Sehun runs into a tall boy wearing all black clothing and carrying an expensive looking designer backpack. They both almost fall over and Sehun is scared to death because this guy looks like a serial killer. The boy bows at him in apology, confusing Sehun even more, and walks away whispering about pandas under his breath in broken English. Jongin’s voice breaks through his thoughts. “You know what I think?”  
  
“What?” Sehun replies.  
  
“People at this school are really fucking weird,” Jongin comment and after thinking about the minivan incident and what looks like his future assassin, Sehun can’t help but agree.  


 

 

 

 

  
The first half of the day passes by in a hurry with teachers passing out enough syllabuses to fill a book and listing rule after rule for hours on end. Sehun swears that if he hears the word grading scale one more time he’s going to explode. He’s played so many “getting to know you” games that he wants to shut himself in his room to avoid social settings for a good three weeks at the minimum. By the time he’s finally walking to lunch, exchanging anecdotes with Jongin, he’s ready to curl up for a long nap.  
  
“You have Mr. Shim for math right?” Jongin asks, and Sehun nods. “Have fun with him. I swear he’s the devil’s spawn. He kept threatening us with pop quizzes and he has this evil glint in his eye that never goes away.” Sehun groans at the thought. He’s always been bad at math and was hoping to get by with an easy teacher this year.  
  
“So basically I’m screwed?” Sehun sighs.  
  
“Yep, pretty much,” Jongin smirks as they make their way into the lunch line. Sehun looks at the menu and lets out a cry of frustration when he catches sight of the food being served.  
  
“Is it just me, or does the food look more awful than last year?” Sehun glances at Jongin to see his face scrunched up in disgust. “I guess we’ll just have to get Doritos.”  
  
“And break diet? I don’t think so,” Jongin disagrees. “Tasteless salad all the way man.” Sehun just rolls his eyes in response. Jongin always adheres to a strict diet to protect his “sexy dancer body” and Sehun doesn’t understand how he does it. Sehun himself has never been too successful with the concept of self-control and tends to eat everything in plain sight.  
  
As they inch forward in the ridiculously long lunch line, Sehun realizes that the line is mostly made up of angry looking freshman whose dreams are being crushed. Sehun begins to observe the rest of the cafeteria when he hears a whiny voice in front of him.  
  
“I can’t believe I forgot my lunch already. Normally this doesn’t happen until next week,” the boy in front of him complains. As the line shuffles forward, something catches Sehun’s eye.  _Ugh he doesn’t have his shoelaces tied_. Sehun glares at the floor, avoiding stepping on the boy’s laces every time the line inches forward.  _He’s going to end up hurting himself or someone else_.  
  
“Sehun, why are you burning holes into the ground with your eyes?” Jongin asks, voiced laced with amused curiosity. Sehun gives him a meaningful look and points to the boy’s shoelaces, and Jongin chuckles at Sehun’s irritation. Sehun shifts his attention back to the boy ahead of him, who has begun to ramble on about his newly acquired cat.  
  
“I’ve finally decided to name her Snowflake,” the boy exclaims excitedly.  
  
His friend confusedly responds, “Dude, she’s a black cat…”  
  
“I know right! It suits her personality perfectly. But there’s only one problem,” the boy’s excited voice becomes solemn. “I may or may not be allergic to her.” The boy’s head bows down in sadness and he lets out a wistful sigh.  
  
“You’ve been allergic to cats for the last 5 years you dumbass. This is exactly why I told you not to bring her home from the shelter,” the boy’s friend mutters in exasperation.  
  
“But she was just so adorable I couldn’t help myself and-” the boy abruptly stops talking and flinches at an extremely loud noise resounding from the doors of the cafeteria. The entire room goes silent and everyone, including Sehun, turns to stare at a tall boy with unruly hair flailing around with a maniacal smile on his face. The boy apologizes in a resounding baritone voice that sounds eerily similar to the one Sehun heard coming out of that minivan of hooligans this morning.  
  
“That was really fucking weird,” Jongin mouths at him. Sehun nods and observes that everyone in the cafeteria has gone back to doing whatever it is they were doing as if nothing happened. Except the freshman who seem equally as confused as Sehun and Jongin do.  
  
Sehun hears the boy in front of him say “looks like Chanyeol’s at it again” and before he can wonder who Chanyeol is and what’s wrong with him, Sehun takes a step forward and feels himself falling. He’s lying on the floor dazed and wondering why he has spaghetti all over his face. He hears the familiar voice of the boy apologizing franticly. Sehun lies on the floor in confusion, slowly registering the fact that the idiot in front of him has not only tripped Sehun, but also dropped gross school lunch spaghetti all over him. Sehun judges him even further, because gross pizza is better than gross spaghetti any day.  
  
“Oh my gosh I am so sorry,” the boy exclaims and Sehun just lies on the floor, brain not having caught up with his body.  
  
“Is he okay?” he hears the boy’s friend inquire with concern. A few seconds later, Sehun registers the sound of Jongin’s mocking laughter and his eyes fly open. He attempts to scramble to his feet to strangle his best friend, but his dizziness doesn’t help his case. He’s about to topple over once again until he feels two strong arms grab his (nonexistent) biceps to keep him upright. Sehun’s eyes fall on the person who is holding him up, and it doesn’t take him long to realize that it’s the idiot who tripped him. Looking remorseful, the shorter boy apologizes yet again with wide, hopeful eyes.

When Sehun’s eyes finally focus on the boy’s face, his heart stops all together. He falls into another daze as the boy says more things that Sehun doesn’t register. In fact, Sehun can think only about one thing as he’s being dragged off, wrist in the boy’s hand. He is very very screwed because this boy is very, very hot and falling in love with a cat-loving idiot who doesn’t tie his shoelaces is not what Sehun had planned.  


 

 

 

 

  
Sehun finds himself sitting on the counter of the bathroom with the hot shoelace boy running stacks of paper towel under water, still furiously apologizing. “I really am so sorry.” The boy comes up close to him and starts dabbing at his shirt with the utmost concentration.  
  
Having difficult time breathing, Sehun chokes out an “it’s fine!” in the most chipper voice he can muster. When the boy looks like he doesn’t believe a word of it. “Seriously it’s okay!” Sehun exclaims yet again.  
  
“It’s really not,” the boy worries. “By the way, I’m Luhan. I'm a senior here. Are you new? I’ve never seen you around.”  
  
The new information leaves Sehun with his mouth hanging open in surprise.  _Senior? This kid looks like he’s five. Wow the world really does hate me_.  
  
“Ummm…” the boy, Luhan, prompts with his eyebrows raised, still dabbing away at Sehun’s shirt.  
  
“Oh um yeah. I’m uh Sehun,” Sehun pauses briefly before mumbling, “Yeah uh I’m a freshman.” Luhan’s eyes widen and it’s his turn to be shocked as he almost drops the paper towel he’s holding.  
  
“Freshman?” Luhan repeats in awe. Sehun thinks he sees a spark of disappointment flit through Luhan’s eyes. “But you’re so tall. You’re taller than me. How?”  
  
“I drank a lot of milk?” Sehun responds meekly. Luhan starts laughing. The laugh turns into a resigned sigh in a few seconds when Luhan throws the paper towel onto the counter and slumps over.  
  
“I’m sorry but I think your shirt is a lost cause.” Sehun looks down at his shirt, which at this point is more orange-ish red than white. Luhan groans in frustration. Sehun has to hold back a giggle because a frustrated Luhan is beyond cute. To think that Sehun found the same guy annoying just 20 minutes ago makes Sehun question his sanity.  _Play it cool Sehun_ , he thinks to himself.  
  
“No no it’s fine! It’s pretty late in the day anyways, I’ll be fine,” Sehun says in what he hopes is a  _don’t worry about it_  tone instead of an  _I am hopelessly in love with you please make out with me_  one.  
  
He seems to be successful because Luhan returns his efforts with an equally bright smile of his own. Luhan glances at his watch. “The bell’s going to ring in a minute or so. You’re okay?”  
  
“Yeah I’m fine, go ahead to your next class,” Sehun assures Luhan, smile still etched onto his face.  
  
Luhan exits the bathroom calling "see you around Sehun!” over his shoulder. Sehun slumps against the counter with a stupid smile on his face, thinking to himself that high school isn’t too bad after all. Sehun is jolted out of his stupor by the resounding ring of the bell. He promptly shuffles out of the bathroom, and searches for his English classroom, with thoughts of Luhan flitting in and out of his head.  


 

 

 

 

When Jongin was comparing Mr. Shim to the devil’s spawn he obviously wasn’t lying. Sehun realizes this as he sits in his room pulling at his hair in frustration while trying to work through tonight’s problem set. The minute the bell rang in his Geometry class that afternoon, Mr. Shim wasted no time for introductions and just began lecturing about theorems and postulates that Sehun couldn’t understand for the life of him. When the final bell of the day rang, Mr. Shim made sure the class copied down the gigantic problem set he assigned for homework, looking entertained to see misery in his students’ eyes.  
  
Sehun is trying to remember the tips Mr. Shim gave them during class, but he comes up with nothing. When he opens his notebook for some much needed guidance, all Sehun finds are the words “Sehun + Luhan” over and over again inside hearts. He has to rip out the first 3 pages of his notebook and send them through the shredder in order to destroy the evidence, just in case Jongin finds it and uses it against him.  
  
An hour later, Sehun is still on the third problem of the set and he’s almost positive that he’s gotten the first two wrong. Frustrated with his lack of progress, he decides to put his time to better use and takes out his laptop. He can always just copy Jongin’s answers anyway. He pulls up Facebook, feeling only slightly guilty when he types Luhan’s name into the search bar. After finding that they have a couple mutual friends through older family members and neighbors that he barely talks to, Sehun starts scrolling through. Thankfully, Luhan didn’t bother with privacy settings and Sehun can see Luhan’s entire profile, including everything from his emotional posts about Snowflake to heated arguments with a guy named Minseok, probably the guy from the lunch line, about how Man U is better than Chelsea. After some strategic stalking, Sehun figures out that Luhan is the captain of the soccer team and is obsessed with DBSK. Sehun laughs when he sees that Luhan likes 20 DBSK fan pages, 10 of them being U-Know Yunho related. He also volunteers everywhere from the animal shelter to the local library tutoring kids for free, all the while getting perfect grades, which Sehun can see because all his friends ask him for homework help.  
  
Sehun shuts his laptop feeling slightly overwhelmed, because now Luhan is not just a cute idiot who needs to tie his shoelaces. He is a cute idiot that needs to tie his shoelaces, but is also smart, kind, charitable, quite adorable, 4 years older than Sehun, and totally out of his league. Sehun climbs into bed with a sigh, math homework lying unfinished on his desk, trying to keep his mind off of Luhan to no avail. After tossing and turning for an hour, cursing himself for falling deep so fast, Sehun finally falls into a fitful sleep with dreams of blond hair and eye smiles.  


 

 

  
  
Sehun rises bright and early on Tuesday morning and heads over to Jongin’s house. He lets himself in, and finds just what he needs sitting on the kitchen table. Pulling out his best friend’s math notebook, he takes a seat and begins meticulously copying the confusing problems that Jongin had miraculously succeeded in solving. The two had always joked about how Sehun made up for what Jongin lacked in English, while Jongin made up for Sehun’s complete lack of math ability, and with each other’s help they had always managed to pass their problem subjects. Looking at the problems in front of him, however, Sehun doubts that Jongin’s help will be enough this time around. When he finally finishes copying the problem set, trying and failing to understand what he was writing down, he yells up to the second floor where Jongin has been getting ready for the past half an hour.  
  
“Jongin get your ass down here, we’re gonna be late for school.”  
  
Sehun hears incoherent mumbling from upstairs and slumps back into his chair, continuing to wait. If there’s anything that Sehun knows about Jongin, it’s that he takes longer to get ready than literally every other person in the world.  
  
Five minutes later, Jongin comes strutting into the kitchen in skin tight jeans, and a tank top that Sehun thinks shows more skin than yesterday’s. Sehun glares at Jongin for taking so long.  
  
“What? Artfully styled hair like this takes patience and effort Sehun,” Jongin picks up his backpack and they both leave the house. “Not that you would know, you’re hair looks like a dead animal everyday.”  
  
They exchange their usual banter as they walk to school. They arrive early enough to check out the activities board before they get to class. While Jongin’s eyes enthusiastically fall on the dance team’s tryout flyer, something else catches Sehun’s.  
  
SOCCER TEAM TRYOUTS MONDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST.  
SEE COACH SHIM OR TEAM CAPTAIN LUHAN WITH ANY QUESTIONS.  
  
Sehun continues to stare at the sign until he is startled out of his trance. “Sehun, you alright?” Jongin asks amusedly. A second later, the warning bell rings, much to his relief, and the both of them sprint to bio and slip into their seats just in time as the teacher begins lecturing.  
  
At the end of class, Sehun turns to find Jongin dozing off in his seat. “Jongin wake up, class is over.” Sehun shakes Jongin’s shoulder. Jongin jerks awake. “Don’t you have gym next? At the opposite side of the building?” Jongin wordlessly scrambles out of his seat with a noise of surprise and bolts out of the room, leaving behind a laughing Sehun.  


 

 

 

 

  
“You blew off your English homework on the first day?” Sehun questions as he drops into the seat next to Jongin at their lunch table.  
  
“Not everyone is a writing prodigy like you Sehun, leave me alone,” Jongin huffs in response. "Anyways, don't think I didn't realize that you copied my math homework number for number this morning."  
  
“It’s a getting to know you questionnaire. You don’t need to be a writing prodigy to write down what your favorite food is.”  
  
“Yeah, well at least I can do my math homework,” Jongin retorts. “Speaking of math, I saw you staring at the soccer tryouts poster this morning.”  
  
“What does that have anything to do with math? And I was not,” Sehun defends.  
  
“Sure and I have two left feet,” Jongin continues, “Our math teacher is the Coach for the soccer team. Your interest in the soccer team wouldn’t have something to do with it’s captain Luhan would it?” Jongin teases. “I never thought that him humiliating you in front of the entire school would make you fall for him. I should try that sometime.”  
  
Knowing there was no way to hide from Jongin, Sehun admits it. “Okay fine. Maybe I think he’s slightly cute,” Sehun ponders. “So, say hypothetically I was to try out for the soccer tea-”  
  
“Sehun please don’t. You’ve already humiliated yourself enough and it’s only the second day of school,” Jongin pleads, concerned for his best friend’s dignity. “Your lack of coordination is actually concerning. I honestly don’t know how you’ve managed to become such a good dancer considering.”  
  
“Come on. It’s just soccer, it can’t be that hard,” Sehun responds, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Jongin.  
  
“Do what you want Sehun. Just know that I’ll be there the whole time recording it to blackmail you later.”  
  
“Your encouragement is so helpful,” Sehun deadpans.  
  
“Yeah, well, your stupidity is astounding. I don’t know how you manage,” Jongin bites back, digging into his salad. “Oh yeah, Mr. Shim is giving a pop quiz today you might wanna attempt to understand something. If you can,” Jongin sniggers  
  
“Fuck you too,” Sehun huffs. He pulls out his math textbook in response with a tired sigh, attempting to focus on geometric theorems without thinking of the soccer team or its golden blond haired captain.  


 

 

 

 

  
After school, Sehun finds himself trudging along the sidewalk in the hot summer heat, sweating buckets and feeling generally disgusting. Lamenting about his unfortunate pop quiz grade and the fact that Mr. Shim threw a piece of chalk at him for daydreaming, Sehun enters his house to find his brother playing video games with his best friend. The sight of them having fun and being lazy together makes him even angrier, because as long as Mr. Shim’s Honors Geometry class exists Sehun can’t even begin to think about fun. As he drops his backpack next to the door and walks to the kitchen to make himself a snack he hears his brother’s best friend, a boy named Choi Minho, screaming.  
  
The sound brings a thought to Sehun’s head.  _Choi Minho. High school soccer-star Choi Minho_. A mischievous grin appears on Sehun’s face. He pours himself a glass of apple juice for liquid courage and marches out into the living room.  
  
“Minhooooo,” Sehun whines and drops himself down into the seat to Minho on the couch. He almost shudders at the sound of his own voice, but his cuteness is a lethal weapon and he is willing to use it.  
  
“What do you want,” Minho intones.  
  
“So…” Sehun begins. “I might need a favor.” Minho stares at him intently.  
  
“No.”  
  
“I didn’t even ask ye-” Sehun attempts.  
  
“No,” Minho repeats monotonously.  
  
“But-”  
  
“No.”  
  
Sehun realizes that convincing Minho to help him out is a very difficult task given that he is probably the epitome of a lazy ass. Asking him to get out of the couch is almost equivalent to asking him to fly, which makes Sehun begin to wonder how he was even on the soccer team in the first place.  
  
It takes 20 minutes of groveling, and giving up his precious Xbox time for the next two weeks, but in the end Sehun convinces Minho to give him a crash course in soccer. He bounds up the stair happily humming DBSK’s Hug to himself (although he should probably be signing Why Did I Fall In Love With You because he just gave up his Xbox for two weeks and he has to learn the entire sport of soccer in 4 days just for Luhan).  


 

 

 

 

  
The weather is perfect on Friday, which makes Sehun a little more than excited.  
  
“Sehun, I think your face is broken,” Jongin seriously tells him.  
  
“What?” Sehun answers confusedly.  
  
“You won’t stop smiling and it makes you look like a clown,” Jongin bursts into laughter and Sehun just stares at him.  
  
“I fail to see the humor,” Sehun deadpans.  
  
“You fail at everything, don’t worry about it,” Jongin retorts. Sehun lunges at him as they exit the school’s front doors, chasing him through the parking lot. The first week of school was finally over and Sehun was ready to start soccer boot camp.

He notices Jongin trailing behind him. “Why are you following me?”  
  
“You really think I’m going to miss the opportunity to see you making a fool out of yourself?” Jongin flips out a camera. “I even brought this to capture the evidence.”  
  
Sehun rolls his eyes. “It’s just soccer. It can’t be that bad.”  
  
“You say that now,” Jongin evilly grins. “Wait an hour and all you’ll have left are bruised shins and an injured pride.”  
  
Sehun reaches the park, Jongin trailing behind him with an infinite supply of snarky remarks. “Minho!” Sehun calls out.  
  
Minho turns around and lets out a groan. “Get over here so we can finish this soon. I have a date tonight and I don’t want to be late.”  
  
“You’re probably going to be late whether or not you teach Sehun that he sucks at soccer,” Jongin pipes from behind Sehun.  
  
“Let’s just get this over with,” he says while shooting Jongin a look that could kill. Sehun bounds up eagerly, ready for the fun to begin.  


 

 

 

 

  
It takes about 5 minutes for Sehun to realize that soccer is very much not his sport. As Minho attempts to teach Sehun how to dribble the ball, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Sehun does not have any natural talent for soccer. Forget natural talent, Sehun was probably the worst soccer player that Minho and Jongin had ever laid eyes on.  
  
“Sehun. You need to kick the ball. Not the grass,” Minho’s grits out, voice laced with anger. “The ball Sehun. It’s not that hard.”  
  
“Well you try if it’s not that hard,” Sehun realizes the flaw in his logic the minute the words leave his mouth. He hears Jongin and Minho cracking up behind him.  
  
“And there we have it. Yet another example of Oh Sehun being a dumbass,” Jongin narrates to the camera. Sehun turns around and groans in fury.  
  
“Shut up. Both of you,” Sehun seethes.  
  
“Maybe we should call it quits for today, Sehun. How about a fresh start tomorrow?” Minho reasons. “I don’t want to keep Taemin waiting,” he adds with a wink as he packs his things up quickly and walks away.  
  
“Taemin?” Sehun intones.  
  
“Our Taemin?” Jongin soullessly answers back.  
  
“That’s disgusting,” they say, shuddering in unison.  


 

 

 

 

  
“I’m really not that great at soccer I guess,” Sehun mumbles with his head hung low. Him and Minho have been practicing in his backyard for two hours, and Sehun’s soccer abilities have yet to bypass that of a four year old at their first game.  
  
“No, no. You’re doing fine!” Minho excitedly tells Sehun, voice so high that it almost cracks. Sehun in his blind hope actually brightens at the sound of Minho’s words.  
  
“You do know that he’s blatantly lying, right?” Jongin stage whispers from behind his camera. Sehun shoots him yet another glare.  
  
“Jongin I’m struggling enough without your sarcastic commentary. Please leave,” Sehun grumbles.  
  
“No, I’m doing just fine here,” Jongin laughs as he sinks comfortably into his lawn chair and adjusts his camera angle.  
  
“I have to get going now, Sehun, but I’m sure you’ll be fine on Monday if you fit in a little more practice!” Minho exclaims with a nervous edge. He's always been a bad liar.  
  
"You really think so?" Sehun asks innocently.  
  
"Um, sure. Yeah," Minho avoids eye contact. “Okay um bye.”  
  
“Thanks for helping me!” Sehun yells at Minho’s retreating figure. Minho flails his arms to say what Sehun understands to be “no problem”.  
  
“You gave him your Xbox time for a month Sehun, he didn’t help you out of kindness,” Jongin reminds him.  
  
“Well at least I got some soccer skills,” Sehun defends.  
  
“You poor child,” Jongin pities. “If those are soccer skills then the people at tryouts are going to have soccer superpowers. As much as I love seeing you fail miserably in front of audiences, I’m advising you against going to those tryouts on Monday.”  
  
“Don’t worry Jongin. If I practice enough tomorrow I should be fine,” Sehun determinedly says. Jongin settles back into his lawn chair, turning on his camera again.  
  
“Well if you insist of failing,” Jongin presses record. Sehun rolls his eyes and starts dribbling the ball again, almost tripping over it. Jongin opens his mouth to ridicule his best friend.  
  
“Don’t even,” Sehun grits out.  
  
It’s going to be a long weekend.  


 

 

 

 

  
Sehun struts through the double doors of school on Monday morning at the top of his game. After spending the entire day on a nervous high that earned him plenty of weird looks from Jongin, he steps out onto the soccer field behind his high school taking deep breaths. He tries to calm himself while scrambling to remember all of the things Minho taught him.  
  
Sehun lines up with the rest of the guys, mentally preparing to wow Luhan's socks (and maybe pants) off with his fantastic soccer skills. They give him odd looks, which is understandable, Half of the kids trying out have known him since he was 5, which unfortunately means that they know that Sehun does  _not_ play soccer. He looks out to the small crowd gathered in the bleachers and spots Jongin ready with his trusty video camera.  
  
After awkwardly stumbling around for a minute, Sehun finally spots Luhan. They make eye contact and Sehun sees an expression of surprise flit across Luhan's face, followed by a small smile of greeting. It makes Sehun's heart beat a little faster. Luhan stands in front of the group and gives them a short pep talk. None of his words register in Sehun's head because he's too busy drooling over Luhan in cleats and knee-highs. Before he knows it the entire group is breaking off into groups and walking to different places on the field. Somehow he gets dragged away and put inside the goal post.  
  
"You okay with being goalie?" some kid asks him.  
  
"Umm..." Sehun gapes.  
  
"Okay, great!" the boy exclaims. "Guys, line up," he hollers to the group of guys hovering around the goal. He hauls over a cart of soccer balls and Sehun has no time to think before he's being pelted with them. He lets out and unmanly scream he curls in on himself with his arms shielding his head. The boy comes up to him with a concerned look.  
  
"Are you really okay with being goalie...?" he asks.  
  
"Uh, yeah, of course," Sehun lets out a nervous laugh. "I'm just nervous. Really nervous. It's not like I've never played goalie before. Ha."  
  
Sehun avoids eye contact.  
  
"If you're sure...?"  
  
"I'm sure," Sehun says with false confidence.  
  
"Alright then," the boy motions at the guys in line to continue.  
  
_It’s okay Sehun you got this_. After successfully dodging 2 projectiles, Sehun spots Luhan in his peripheral vision, getting distracted for a second. The next thing he knows he’s lying on the ground clutching his stomach and most definitely not crying (because big boys don’t cry and Sehun is a fucking _man_ ).  
  
Sehun squeezes his eyes shut and lies on the floor, feigning unconsciousness. He can hear voices around him chorusing, “Are you okay?” He figures that if he lies there unmoving for long enough, he can save himself from embarrassment and write the entire situation off as a nervous mistake. He starts getting hopeful until he hears the voice of a certain doe eyed upperclassman. He remains in his position until a stretcher comes to carry him off through the nurse.  
  
“And here we have it. Another act of stupidity from the great Oh Sehun!” He hears Jongin narrate behind him. Sehun can’t help but get a little (more) teary eyed when he realizes that he will never live this down. With enough embarrassment to last him 10 lifetimes, he vows to never show his face in front of Luhan again.  


 

 

 

 

  
The next day when Sehun walks into school, his eyes are flitting around searching for Luhan. He spent all of last night praying to all things holy for the ability to successfully avoid Luhan for the rest of the year instead of doing his math homework. Mr. Shim might murder him in class that afternoon, but if Luhan never sees him again, it's most definitely worth it.  
  
“Stop jumping around like a frightened animal and let’s go to the activity board. Maybe we can manage to find something that doesn’t involve you making a fool of yourself,” Jongin laughs. Sehun grumbles but follows him anyways. As they approach the board, Sehun spots Luhan taking down soccer tryout fliers. Before Jongin can stop him, Sehun is bolting in the other direction successfully attracting the attention of every single student in the hallway, including Luhan himself.  
  
“Goddamnit, everyone is staring at me,” Jongin narrows his eyes as he slowly slinks in the same direction Sehun ran off in. “Oh Sehun, you’re gonna pay for this.”  


 

 

 

  
“So it’s basically an open prompt. Write what you feel like writing, but follow the guidelines on the rubric. It’s your first assignment so I won’t be too harsh, but if the items on the rubric are missing, you lose a letter grade,” Mr. Kim warns them, introducing their first assignment in English. Sehun smiles excitedly while Jongin groans next to him.  
  
“An entire letter grade? Four pages?” Jongin’s head hits his desk. “I can’t do this.”  
  
“Oh, get over yourself Jongin,” Sehun sniggers. “You have two entire weeks to finish it and you’re allowed to write about anything you want.”  
  
“The anything I want part is fine Sehun,” Jongin complains. “It’s the writing part that scares me.”  
  
Sehun laughs at his best friend’s distress. “Calm down, I’ll help you with it,” Jongin grins at him.  
  
“Thanks man,” Jongin exclaims, wrapping himself around Sehun.  
  
“I’m glad you appreciate it and all but would you please get off,” Sehun squirms uncomfortably. He feels Jongin tighten his hold, but thankfully the bell rings and Jongin is bounding out of the door before Sehun can blink twice.  
  
Sehun gathers his things and starts towards the door.  
  
“Sehun Oh!”  
  
He whips around to see Mr. Kim looking at him from behind his desk. “Do you have a moment to chat?”  
  
Sehun’s stomach starts turning and he suddenly breaks out into a cold sweat. He can’t possibly be in trouble already?  _Deny everything_. He chants in his head as he slowly inches towards the desk.  _You’ve done nothing wrong_.  
  
“Don’t get nervous!” Mr. Kim laughs. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”  
  
Sehun exhales in relief.  
  
“I actually want to speak with you about an extracurricular opportunity,” Mr. Kim explains. “I’m the advisor of the school newspaper, and you seemed to express interest in Journalism on your getting to know you sheet. Would it be something you’d be interested in?”  
  
“Actually yeah. That sounds really cool,” Sehun smiles.  
  
“Well I’m glad to see you’re interested! We’re always short staffed, so it would be nice to have some new writers,” Mr. Kim scribbles something on a post it and hands it to Sehun. “Here, this is the meeting time and location. It’s this Thursday in the newsroom. Come check it out.”  
  
“Alright. I’ll definitely come by,” Sehun starts getting excited. “Thanks for letting me know, Mr. Kim!”  
  
He runs out of the room too see Jongin waiting for him impatiently.  
  
“I’m hungry, what took you so long?”  
  
“Mr. Kim told me to come to the newspaper meeting,” Sehun explains.  
  
“Wow. Finally a place where you won’t embarrass yourself,” Jongin deadpans.  
  
“Shut up Jongin,” Sehun frowns, kicking Jongin in the shin as he stalks off in the direction of the cafeteria.  
  
Jongin catches up to him by the time he slips into his spot at their lunch table.  
  
“Oh by the way, dance team tryouts are tomorrow,” Jongin tells Sehun.  
  
“Already?” Sehun is surprised. Normally dance tryouts don’t happen until a month into the school year.  
  
“Apparently the captain is really intent about getting new kids since they lost some core seniors?” Jongin says. “Something about natural dance ability.”  
  
“That’s intense.”  
  
Sehun wonders if he should practice tonight but decides against it. “We’ll probably be fine anyways.”  
  
Jongin and Sehun dance in a crew outside of their dance school, so they have plenty of experience with freestyle.  
  
“Yeah, we don’t have to worry about it,” Jongin agrees. “What you do need to worry about is the pop quiz devil Shim is probably going to give you today.”  
  
Sehun groans in protest. The mere thought of Mr. Shim makes his skin crawl with fear. He pulls out his textbook and they both pour over various problems, Sehun trying to make sense of equations that register no meaning in his brain while Jongin tries to help him through it.  
  
“I’m screwed, aren’t I?” Sehun asks.  
  
“Pretty much,” Jongin answers honestly. The happiness from English slowly wears away. Sehun closes his eyes and prays to the gods of math to pass this quiz, although he knows already that at this point, nothing can help him.  


 

 

 

 

  
Good on Jongin’s word, Mr. Shim is back with another edition of his “Pop Quizzes From Hell” series. Sehun almost thinks he sees a maniacal glint in Mr. Shim’s eyes as he hands them out to the class.  
  
Sehun looks at the quiz and immediately feels like crying. Mr. Shim must be feeling extra mean today because none of the problems on the paper in front of him look like the ones he copied from Jongin’s homework. Winging it, Sehun writes down a few random numbers that he thinks might work, already knowing that this quiz is a lost cause.  
  
He sighs after he finishes it and turns it over. It’s only the first week of class and Sehun is almost positive that he has a 5% in the class.  
  
Mr. Shim collects the quizzes and starts lecturing about the SAS postulate. Sehun loses interest after 10 minutes and his mind wanders, thinking about how SAS could also spell ASS and Luhan definitely has a fine ass.  
  
Half an hour later, the bell interrupts Sehun’s thoughts of Luhan’s body. Sighing in relief, Sehun packs up his things at the speed of light and gets ready to bolt outside. Unfortunately, Mr. Shim calls him back for a talk, and Sehun can only assume that it’s not an offer to join the math team.  
  
“Mr. Oh Sehun,” Mr. Shim’s voice drips with judgment. “I’m sorry to say, but you’re grade in this class is absolutely atrocious.”  
  
Sehun is guessing that Mr. Shim isn’t very sorry at all. In fact, he’s pretty sure that he can hear Mr. Shim laughing on the inside.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Sehun squeaks out. “Sir,” he adds on afterthought.  
  
“Well, since you fail to pay attention in a big group, I’m going to recommend you invest some time in peer tutoring,” Mr. Shim commands with a note of finality. Something tells Sehun that this isn’t really a recommendation.  
  
“Two times a week. Figure out your schedules when you get in touch with him.” Mr. Shim scribbles a phone number on a note. “Text or call this number, he’s expecting you.”  
  
“Okay.” Sehun’s voice trembles a little.  
  
“Now get out of my class, I need to go to soccer practice.” Sehun quickly grabs his backpack and heads for the door. “Oh yeah, speaking of which, how’s your stomach?” Mr. Shim adds, grinning evilly.  
  
Sehun is mortified.  


 

 

 

 

  
“I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to go left,” Sehun grits out, glancing at his watch. They’re late.  
  
“No we went left last time and got lost again. We’re going right,” Jongin argues back.  
  
“No we went right last time. We’re going left,” Sehun attempts to drag Jongin left, but fails.  
  
“Goddamnit, why does our school even have a third floor,” Jongin complains.  
  
“Are you guys going to dance tryouts?” They spin around to see a blonde haired girl with a smile on her face. Sehun and Jongin nod enthusiastically. “You're both wrong, it's straight ahead. I’m headed there too, follow me.”  
  
They soundlessly follow the girl.  
  
“I’m Hyoyeon. Co-captain this year,” the girl introduces herself. “And you guys are?”  
  
“I’m Jongin. He’s Sehun. We’re freshmen,” Jongin replies.  
  
“Kim Jongin? Oh Sehun?” Hyoyeon smiles. “I’ve heard a lot about you. You two dance with Taemin, Key, Krystal, and Luna right?” The both of them nod again.  
  
“Well it’s nice to have you guys on the team!” Hyoyeon looks excited. “If everything I’ve heard about you two is true, you guys are a shoo-in.”  
  
Sehun is flooded with relief. Even though he already knew that the both of them were probably going to make it, it’s nice to hear the words from someone important.  
  
They finally make it to the dance studio and the minute Sehun steps in his mouth drops open. The studio is huge. Sehun already knows that he’s going to love spending time in here. There aren’t many people in the room, but Sehun spots a group of freshman in the corner. They must be trying out as well. He sees Taemin, Key, Luna, and Krystal as well and gives them an excited wave.  
  
"Okay, everyone. Let's get started. I'm Zhang Yixing, your co-captain this year along with Hyoyeon over there," Yixing motions over to where Hyoyeon is standing behind Sehun and Jongin. He looks slightly nervous and Sehun wonders why. "Introduce yourself if you're trying out!"  
  
"Um I'm Junhong, freshman," an incredibly tall kid with unruly blond curls mumbles. Sehun remembers seeing him at soccer tryouts.  
  
"Jongup, also freshman," a boy with sinfully tight pants and an angelic smile says. Maybe he'd get along with Jongin, but then again this kid seems too nice.  
  
"Jimin," a kid that’s dressed in a sleeveless muscle tee says. He motions to the boy standing next to him. "And this is Hos-"  
  
"J-hope," the boy cuts Jimin off, and Jimin rolls his eyes. For some reason, J-hope reminds Sehun of a horse. What kind of name is J-hope anyway?  
  
All eyes turn to Jongin and Sehun, the only remaining fresh faces in the studio. They introduce themselves, and Sehun can see Yixing sigh in relief when he catches sight of the two of them. He’s probably heard about them from their crew as well.  
  
Tryouts run pretty smoothly. Yixing asks them each to freestyle, and then perform one solo piece each. The others’ talent blows Sehun away. Every single one of the new kids seems to have solid skills, and he’s sure they’re all making the team for the upcoming year.  
  
Sehun is the last to go, and he can’t help but feel pleased by the impressed looks on everyone's faces. When he finishes Yixing gathers them all up to break the good news that they all knew was coming.  
  
“I have to say that I’m extremely pleased to have all of you here today. This is one of the most talented groups of dancers I’ve seen try out for the team,” Yixing is beaming. “I have to be honest, I was pretty scared for the coming season. We lost a bunch of core dancers to graduation, so you guys are literally saviors to this team.”  
  
“You all made the team, by the way. I’m sure it was obvious though,” Hyoyeon adds with a wink.  
  
“Get excited for this coming season! It’s going to be great,” Yixing is bursting with positive energy. “See you next Wednesday, same time, same place,” he ends with a clap.  
  
The team members in the room give a loud cheer and begin to leave the room. Jongin slings an arm around Sehun and leads them to the door, wearing the same smile Sehun has on his face. He finds himself agreeing with Yixing in his head. It  _is_  going to be a great season, and Sehun can’t wait for it to start.  


 

 

 

 

  
As he walks to his daily hell, Honors Geometry with Mr. Shim, Sehun can't help but feel a little surprised. Somehow the day went by pretty smoothly. He didn’t embarrass himself terribly, and successfully avoided Luhan for the entire day. It feels refreshing to have a break from his life of uncertainty and unwelcome surprises. He can’t wait to go to newspaper after school and get started on his journey towards his dream of becoming a journalist for a popular publication.  
  
Math class is as awful as usual, and after an hour of trying and failing to pay attention to Mr. Shim, Sehun is saved by the bell from the torture. As he gathers his stuff he hears Mr. Shim call out to him.  
  
“Oh Sehun,” Sehun meets Mr. Shim’s piercing stare and quickly looks away. “I don’t believe you’ve contacted you’re peer tutor yet.”  
  
His voice sends shivers up Sehun’s spine.  
  
“I’m sorry. Sir. I had dance tryouts and a lot of homework yesterday. It completely slipped my mind,” Sehun gulps. “I’ll do it right now. Sir.”  
  
“Alright. I’ll be checking in with the both of you for weekly progress,” Mr. Shim narrows his eyes. “I hope you take this seriously Sehun.”  
  
“Of course I will,” Sehun quickly reassures. “Sir.”  
  
“Good,” Mr. Shim seems slightly satisfied, shocking Sehun. He didn’t realize that Mr. Shim was capable of satisfaction. “And you can stop calling me sir. You sound like a dysfunctional robot.”  
  
“Of course,” Sehun says. “S-”  
  
Mr. Shim rolls his eyes. “Now get out, I have go to practice.”  
  
Sehun scuttles out of the room, pulling out his phone and the post it note he got yesterday.  
  
Sehun:  
_Hey, um, I’m the freshman you’re going to be tutoring?_  
  
He heads to his locker and switches out his books before going to the newsroom.  
  
882-334-5930:  
_Oh hello~ !!!  
Meet me before school tomorrow and we can work out scheduling and all?! _  
  
Sehun chuckles a little at the exclamation points.  
  
Sehun:  
_Okay! Thanks._  
  
Sehun sends back, hoping he doesn’t sound too unenthusiastic. Jongin always complains that he sounds mad when he texts, but Sehun can’t bring himself to use emoticons and exclamation points.  
  
882-334-5930:  
_Np! ^.^_  
  
Sehun enters the newsroom to find only one person sitting there. He checks his watch, and he’s definitely not early. According to Mr. Kim the meeting should have started two minutes ago. The boy at the table is looking down, and Sehun can’t see his face.  
  
“Um, is the newspaper meeting here?” Sehun asks, hoping he didn’t come to the wrong room. The boy’s head snaps up, and Sehun recognizes the scary looking exchange student that mumbles under his breath in a mix of broken English and Chinese all the time. The boy tilts his head and squints his eyes in apparent confusion.  
  
“Newspaper?” Sehun scrapes through his memory and tries to remember some Chinese words. The boy seems to understand, however, and he breaks into an adorable smile and nods enthusiastically. Sehun is more than thrown off, because wow, that was really fucking cute and most definitely unexpected.  
  
Feeling friendly, Sehun takes the seat next to the boy and introduces himself. The boy happily does the same, and Sehun finds out that his name is Zitao, Tao for short. They make extremely dysfunctional conversation in broken English and the two words of Chinese Sehun remembers from the Taiwanese dramas his mother watches. A couple minutes later, a bunch of people burst into the room, breathless and apologizing for their tardiness. Mr. Kim is a step after them, and in no time at all everyone takes their seats and begins introducing themselves.  
  
“Yo. I’m Jongdae,” a sly looking boy introduces himself first. “I run the advice column Ask Chen. That’s my penname. Genius, right?”  
  
“Jongdae, everyone in school knows its you,” a tall boy with model looks interjects.  
  
“Shut up, Kris, nobody cares. Anyways, the entire school only reads the paper for my column so suck it bitches,” Jongdae finishes with a smirk. Sehun is kind of scared and decides that he’ll probably avoid this nut job.  
  
“I’m Luna. Photographer. Everyone here knows me already,” Luna flashes a smile. “By the way Sehun, your tryout was awesome yesterday. I’m proud.”  
  
Luna reaches over to pinch Sehun’s cheeks and Sehun flails to try to get out of the way, almost falling out of his chair in the process. The entire room chuckles and Sehun turns bright red. He’s going to kill her later for that.  
  
“Hi, I’m Seohyun,” a quiet girl says. “I’m a writer. I help Minseok out with editorial stuff once in a while too.”  
  
“Watch out for her, guys,” Jongdae warns Tao and Sehun. “She looks timid but she has all of us under her control. Even Minseok.” Seohyun rolls her eyes while the rest of them laugh again.  
  
“I’m Kris,” the model boy introduces himself. “I’m also a writer. I have my own weekly column and I do articles as well. I’m hoping to add some original artwork to the paper as well.”  
  
“He means he writes weird articles about obscure topics that nobody cares about,” Jongdae adds again. “And his column is called Adventures of Galaxy Hyung. It’s pretty fucked up if you ask me. Just like his art is.”  
  
“Jongdae, language,” Mr. Kim reprimands from the corner, still smiling fondly while Kris punches Jongdae in the arm.  
  
“I’m Joonmyun, another writer,” a short boy with a cheesy smile speaks up. “I take care of all the school events articles and other important announcements.”  
  
“He’s also the student body president. He makes a lot of cheesy jokes that kinda suck, but he won’t stop even though everyone tells him to shut up,” Jongdae throws his two cents in. Everyone rolls their eyes yet again, still smiling. Sehun finds a smile creeping onto his face as well. This Jongdae kid is pretty interesting.  
  
“And finally, I’m Minseok. Editor in chief, and your new boss.” Sehun realizes that he’s the boy that was standing next to Luhan when the spaghetti fiasco happened. It was Luhan’s best friend. He hopes that Minseok doesn’t recognize him as he looks to Sehun and Tao. “I do my best to hold all the craziness together, and I’ll be here to help you through anything you need. Introduce yourselves?”  
  
“I’m Sehun. Um, I’d like to write?” he looks over at Tao.  
  
“Tao.” Tao looks at everyone with his naturally piercing eyes. He holds up his DSLR and everyone at the table seems to be a little frightened. “Picture.”  
  
When nobody says anything, Tao sends a pleading look toward Sehun.  
  
“He’s an exchange student from China,” Sehun explains.  
  
“Ohhh,” everyone says in unison. They fall into silence for a couple seconds wondering how to communicate with Tao.  
  
“Um, I took Mandarin in middle school?” Joonmyun offers.  
  
“You’re a senior now, do you remember anything?” Jongdae asks.  
  
“Ni hao?” Joonmyun sheepishly asks.  
  
“Ni hao!” Tao excitedly replies. The room descends into silence once again.  
  
“Oh wait!” Kris suddenly exclaims. “I’m Chinese!”  
  
“Wowwww,” Jongdae sarcastically drawls. “Gotta add that one to the list of Kris’ stupidest moments.”  
  
He turns to Sehun. “Last year he fell asleep at his easel painting his girlfriend’s Christmas present and ended up giving her a blank canvas with some crappy explanation about not defining his precious love. Amber called his BS and threw the thing at his face. He had to wear sunglasses to cover the bruise on his eye for two weeks. It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”  
  
Laugher bubbles in Sehun’s throat but he catches Kris’ angry gaze and forces it down.  
  
“Okay we’re done here. Go and do your work guys. Especially you Jongdae, stop bothering Kris, he looks like he’s about to cry,” Minseok announces.  
  
“No, I’m not!” Kris defensively whines.  
  
“Of course Kris,” Minseok chuckles. “Tao, go talk to Luna, Kris, help them out for a bit?” Kris frowns, still upset but walks over to Luna anyways, dragging along a confused looking Tao.  
  
“And Sehun, follow me,” Minseok leads them to his desk and motions for Sehun to have a seat, then sitting down himself. “Did you ever end up getting that shirt clean?” Minseok chuckles.  
  
Sehun let’s out a nervous laugh. “Nope, that stain is there to stay.”  
  
“I’m sorry, Luhan is a mess.” Minseok consoles.  
  
“No, no. It’s not problem!” Sehun tries to keep his tone casual, but talking about Luhan and the embarrassing lunch line incident is enough to make Sehun a little frazzled.  
  
“So writing, huh?” Minseok asks. Sehun nods in response. “I’m glad. We’re always short staffed on writers so I’m happy to have another. Do you have anything specific that you’re interested in?”  
  
Sehun shrugs. “Not really. I’m fine with anything.”  
  
“Alright. I’ll just have you write a couple different things so you can find what you like,” Minseok thinks aloud. “Here why don’t you start with something open ended. I’ll give you a prompt and you write the article however you want to.”  
  
Sehun nods.  
  
“It’ll give me a chance to see your writing style and where you would fit in the paper.”  
  
“Sounds fun. What’s the prompt?” Sehun starts getting excited.  
  
“Well since it’s been two weeks since you’ve gotten here, how about we do ‘high school through the eyes of a freshman,’” Minseok suggests. “Write it however you want, with whatever meaning. Does that sound okay?”  
  
“Yeah, sure,” Sehun affirms.  
  
“Alright, you can go ahead and start. We don’t have a space set up for you yet, but I’ll get started on that right now. It should be ready by next week’s meeting. The room is open during lunch everyday and there’s normally always someone in here, so feel free to drop by anytime if you want to work on stuff, newspaper related or not,” Minseok smiles.  
  
“Thanks!” Sehun grins back. “I’ll get going then? See you soon.”  
  
Sehun grabs his things, waves to Tao and Luna, and heads out. While he walks home he thinks about what he’s going to write for his first assignment. His first two weeks have been pretty crazy, with all the Luhan drama, and his never-ending issues with math and Mr. Shim. He wonders what things would have been like if Luhan didn’t spill food all over him on that first day, and before he can stop himself, he’s thinking about all things Luhan again. He sighs in exasperation. This crush of his is getting out of hand.

 

 

 

 

 

“Fuck yeah, it’s Friday!” Jongin cheers as they enter school through the double doors. The main hallway is bustling with people excitedly chattering away about their weekend plans.   
  
“I have to go find my peer tutor, wanna come with?” Sehun asks.  
  
“Um, actually, I have to go talk to Yixing about something in the dance studio.” Sehun doesn’t miss the slight redness in Jongin’s cheeks as he walks away.  _Suspicious_ , Sehun thinks as he pulls out his phone, texting his mystery tutor asking where they should meet.   
  
Sehun walks aimlessly around school for a while, waiting for a reply. His phone buzzes.   
  
882-334-5930:  
_Hey, I’m running a little late to school sorry! Meet me by the library doors?_  
  
Sehun:  
_Sure. See you there._  
  
Sehun paces in front of the library doors for ten minutes and ends up staring at posters on the wall that were trying to encourage high school students to read more often.   
  
He feels a tap on his shoulder and a familiar voice, “Hey…?”   
  
He turns around and realizes that he’s officially screwed. Cursing the existence of math and Mr. Shim in his head, he tentatively responds, “Luhan…?”   
  
Sehun closes his eyes for a second and internally wails because he’s standing in front of Luhan, a person who he swore to avoid for the rest of his life. Now, not only is Luhan going to think Sehun is an terribly incapable soccer player, but he’s also going to find out that Sehun is a dumbfuck that can’t do math for shit.  
  
Luhan startles Sehun out of his mortified trance with a question that only makes him more embarrassed.  
  
“Are you feeling okay? You took a pretty hard hit on Monday…”  
  
Sehun’s face turns red. “I’m fine!” he squeaks out.  
  
Sensing his embarrassment, Luhan laughs the situation off, “It happens to the best of us. Maybe next year?”   
  
“Ha,” Sehun let’s out a nervous bark of laughter and Luhan looks confused. Sehun quickly changes the topic of conversation to scheduling their sessions.   
  
They figure out that after school isn’t going to work, since they’re both pretty busy with extra-curriculars. Before school is also impossible because unlike Sehun, Luhan is anything but an early riser. Luhan finally suggests that they meet in the library during lunch every Tuesday and Thursday. Sehun gets really excited for a minute because he’s going to be eating with Luhan twice a week, but his bubble bursts when the bell rings.   
  
“Fuck, I have Calc with Mr. Shim first hour. He’s going to make me run laps today ugh,” Luhan complains. “Bye Sehun, see you next Tuesday,” Luhan calls behind him as he runs off to class.   
  
Sehun waves half-heartedly in the direction of Luhan’s retreating figure and runs off to biology wondering what he’s going to do about this situation.   
  
Sehun spends the rest of his Friday freaking out over Luhan and math. He walks into Mr. Shim’s class with an obvious look of pain, only to see Mr. Shim smirking back at him, as if he knows the exact reason of Sehun’s distress. On his way out, he stops Sehun for the third day in a row and asks whether Luhan and him have “made plans” and to “have fun”. Sehun swears he sees an eyebrow wiggle thrown in there, and he’s starting to think Mr. Shim’s number one hobby isn’t soccer, but instead torturing his students.   
  
By the time Sehun finally makes it home for the weekend, he’s mentally and physically exhausted. He opens his math textbook because he doesn’t want to look like an absolute fool in front of Luhan, but nothing makes sense. With a frustrated groan he slams the book shut and pulls out his newspaper assignment instead, trying and failing not to get distracted with thoughts of Luhan again. Since when was high school supposed to be so complicated?  


 

 

 

 

  
Sehun shows up in the library on Tuesday at the beginning of lunch hour with his brown bag lunch. He’s more than nervous, because Luhan and math is not a combination that foresees a good outcome. He looks around for Luhan, who is nowhere to be seen and probably late. He sits down at a random table and waits for a couple minutes, only to be startled when a voice too loud for the library voice calls out, “Sehun!”   
  
Luhan walks over to the table and takes a seat next to Sehun. He immediately begins chattering and as much as Sehun tries to pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth, he can’t stop staring at the way Luhan’s lips move instead. Luhan seems very enthusiastic about math and Sehun forces himself to muster up a fake excitement to match Luhan’s mood.   
  
Luhan grabs Sehun’s textbook from the corner of the table and flips it open to the first chapter. “So what is it you’re struggling with?”  
  
“Everything. Mr. Shim kind of sucks,” Sehun deadpans, not bothering to sugar coat the situation.   
  
“I know what you mean. Mr. Shim is basically Satan in disguise as a math teacher and soccer coach,” Luhan empathizes in a dark tone. “We’ll just start from the beginning then!” he chirps right after, changing tones fast enough for Sehun to think he has whiplash.   
  
After explaining a few things, he writes out a few practice problems. Sehun stares at them blankly and he sees Luhan realizing that there is a lot of work to be done.   
  
“I’m sorry I’m so bad at this…” Sehun hangs his head.  
  
“Hey, no I understand. I’m here to help you get better at it,” Luhan softly encourages. He explains the problems step by step and surprisingly Sehun is able to understand a lot more than he thought he would be able to. By the end of their session, he’s able to get through problems on his own and Luhan is thrilled.   
  
“See, look. You’re already doing better!” Luhan grins. He glances at the digital clock on the wall. “Oh, looks like lunch hour is about to end. How do you feel about adding Wednesdays? At least for the first couple weeks.”  
  
“If you're sure. I don't want to take away your lunch hour so often,” Sehun replies with worry.   
  
“Nah, it's fine. All of my friends are normally busy during lunch anyways." Luhan picks up his stuff and strides out of the library, waving to Sehun at the doors. "I'll see you tomorrow!"  
  
The moment Luhan is out of sight Sehun breaks into a wide grin. Lunch with Luhan three times a week? Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.   


 

 

 

 

  
Life has been good for Oh Sehun. After a surprising, but not unwelcome, turn of fate, things have been working out for him. His life is starting to resemble a teenage romantic comedy instead of the Series of Unfortunate Events, and he couldn’t be happier about it.   
  
Dance is more fun that he thought it would be. The freshmen like to call themselves the J Line, and J-hope has even started calling him Jehun instead of Sehun. Dealing with Yixing’s endearing weirdness is something that Sehun readily welcomes into his daily life. The obvious sexual tension between Jongin and Yixing makes it even better, because after weeks of torture, Sehun finally has something to tease Jongin about in retaliation.

They’re already hard at work on their winter season routines and thanks to the commitment of the upperclassmen, they already have all their routines planned out for the entire year’s competitions and shows.   
  
Tutoring sessions with Luhan have been going more than well. Not only is he starting to understand math better than he ever has, he’s also getting to know Luhan. Sehun prides himself in now being able to hold a perfectly normal conversation with the older boy. By now, he’s given up on controlling his feelings because Luhan is perfect and Sehun’s heart doesn’t seem keen on listening to him.   
  
Smiling to himself about these new developments, Sehun walks into the newspaper room and sees Tao messing with his DSLR. They strike up a conversation waiting for the upperclassmen to stumble in late yet again.   
  
“Joonma help me with English!” Tao excitedly shares, eyes twinkling.   
  
“Really? That’s great. I can tell you’re getting better already,” Sehun encourages, smiling back. He can’t help but think that Tao is the cutest thing he’s ever seen.   
  
Tao pulls out a tupperware container and a fork. “Kimchi Spaghetti? Soo made it.” Tao shoves it in Sehun’s direction. “Eat.”   
  
Sehun tentatively takes a bite, unable to refuse Tao’s pleading look. Sehun’s mouth drops open after he swallows the first bite. He doesn’t think he’s ever tasted something so heavenly.   
  
“Holy hell, this is delicious,” Sehun gushes going in for another bite. Tao looks just as excited.   
  
“I know!” Tao gets so excited that he starts speaking in Chinese. Sehun’s eyebrows furrow but he tries his best to play along because Tao is adorable and squishy.  
  
The rest of the staff finally stumbles in with apologies (and food, which makes it all better).   
  
“Progress everyone?” Minseok asks.  
  
“Things are looking up!” Jongdae exclaims. “Thank goodness our school has plenty of distressed teenagers. The submission page for my column is overflowing. I’m already hard at work writing witty, sarcastic, yet helpful advice to those lucky children.”   
  
“Why are you calling them children Jongdae. You are a children,” Kris argues.   
  
“Well, if you guys are both done being children,” Luna rolls her eyes, “I’ve got all the club events under control and Tao has all the sports events.” Tao nods gleefully at this and Sehun wants to pinch his cheeks. “If you guys need anything specific just ask, we’re not too busy this early in the year.”  
  
“Thanks, Luna.” Seohyun’s voice reminds Sehun of honey. “I’m going to start off writing a piece on the cafeteria’s health and safety measures.”  
  
“AKA, why is the cafeteria food always so gross,” Jongdae elaborates.  
  
“Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Galaxy Hyung is coming along beautifully,” Kris grins, flashing his gums. “I really think my original art would add artistic value to the piece Seok,” Kris persuades.  
  
“I would just let him do it. If we let this go on, he’s going to do another one of his stupid powerpoint presentations about why we should let him draw in the paper,” Jongdae advises.  
  
Minseok sighs, “You’re right. Go for it Kris.” Kris pumps his fist in victory. “ Joonmyun?”   
  
“School happenings are under control,” Joonmyun notifies.  
  
“Alright then everything looks good. Get to work,” Minseok claps his hands and everyone shifts to their work stations. “Sehun come see me,” Minseok adds.  
  
Sehun walks up to Minseok’s desk, first assignment shaking in his hand. Minseok reads it through and standing there is torture for Sehun. He wishes he could read Minseok’s thoughts. Minseok finally finishes it and looks up. Sehun’s heart stops for a second in anticipation.  
  
“Sehun this is really great. It’s a great blend of sarcasm, humor, and substance. I can almost hear you talking to me.” Minseok praises. “I’ll definitely be running this in the first issue. Good job.”  
  
“Thanks!” Sehun beams.   
  
“For your next assignment, pick any topic. Just run it past me before you start writing?” Minseok catches the flash of fear in Sehun’s eyes. “Don’t worry, it’ll come to you. If you still can’t think of anything in a couple of days, come to me and I’ll help you brainstorm.”  
  
Sehun nods tentatively. “Also, Jongdae is pretty good at brainstorming. He might look scary but he’s a giant teddy bear on the inside,” Minseok suggests.  
  
Sehun looks even more frightened and Minseok laughs and sends him off to his brand new desk. It’s tiny as hell and Sehun wonders if he can even fit into it. At least he gets a computer to work on. He sits and brainstorms for 40 minutes, only to get up and gather his stuff, disheartened because he has nothing.   
  
“Hey, take it easy. Something will come to you.” Jongdae gives him a genuine smile as Sehun passes his desk on the way out. “If you need any help talk to me. I’m here during lunch most days.”   
  
Sehun smiles back at Jongdae. “Thanks man, I’ll take you up on that offer.” Under all that sassiness and sarcasm, Sehun realizes that maybe Jongdae isn’t so bad after all.   


 

 

 

 

  
"Happy Monday, dear students,” Mr. Shim is grinning, and Sehun has never seen such a frightening sight. “I’ve made the decision to ring in the new week with another pop quiz!”  
  
Sehun sighs. It’s only Monday and he’s too tired to deal with another quiz from hell. When he turns over his quiz, he takes a deep breath and picks up his pencil. 10 minutes later, Sehun has never been so shocked because all the questions are solved and he knew how to do every single one. He’s on cloud nine as he walks to his locker after class, and his day is made even better when he spots Luhan in the hall on the way.   
  
“Luhan!” Sehun calls after Luhan, beaming.   
  
“What’s up?” Luhan smiles back.  
  
“Mr. Shim gave another pop quiz from hell today!” Sehun shares excitedly. Luhan’s face contorts in confusion.  
  
“And you’re happy about that…?” Luhan questions.  
  
“Hell yeah. I aced that thing,” Sehun exclaims, bouncing up and down. Luhan gives him a pat on the back and congratulates him. They launch into a short discussion about Mr. Shim’s evil quizes when Yixing, Minseok, Kris, and that weird guy from the cafeteria on the first day of school come up to Luhan’s locker. To be honest Sehun blames the weird kid for getting spaghetti all over him more than anyone else.   
  
Suddenly, Sehun feel really intimidated because he’s surrounded by upperclassmen, even though he knows all of them quite well.   
  
“Hey guys!” Sehun nervously greets. After receiving a wave from the guys, Sehun starts inching back.  
  
“You know Sehun?” Yixing asks Luhan.   
  
“ _You_  know Sehun?” Minseok asks Yixing.  
  
“Hi Sehun!” Kris gives him a gummy smile. Sehun woodenly waves back.   
  
“ _You_  know Sehun too?” Yixing asks Kris.   
  
“Wow, it looks like everyone knows Sehun except me. I feel kinda left out,” the crazy guy pouts. “Hi Sehun! I’m Chanyeol. Wanna be friends? Good.”  
  
Chanyeol envelops him into a bear hug and Sehun can’t breathe.   
  
“Chanyeol, don’t freak him out.” Luhan reprimands.   
  
“Uhh, hey Chanyeol. Nice to meet you. I actually gotta go, see you later guys!” Sehun quickly walks off in the other direction, not wanting to impose.   
  
“See Chanyeol, you scared him away,” Sehun hears Yixing accuse in the distance. Sehun has to laugh to himself because they’re just as stupid as him and Jongin are. Probably even more.

 

 

 

 

 

  
It takes Tuesday’s tutoring session for Sehun to realize how dire the situation is. He’s not even being friend zoned, he’s being little brother zoned. Slowly Sehun starts to realize how impossible his crush actually is. His mood turns sour and Luhan, receptive of all the wrong things, notices.   
  
“Hey are you okay?” he asks softly. Sehun wants to let out a groan of frustration because Luhan really needs to stop being so nice to him.   
  
“Yeah I’m fine,” Sehun attempts to reassure Luhan, not sounding fine at all. He slumps a little and sighs, hoping Luhan doesn’t really notice, but knowing that he will. For some reason Sehun can’t seem to control his emotions today.  
  
Luhan stands up abruptly and packs up both of their things. Sehun stares at him confusedly.  
  
“What are you doing?” he asks  
  
“Follow me,” Luhan responds with a small smile appearing on his face. He grabs Sehun’s wrist and drags him out of the library.   
  
They end up in the courtyard, which is full of trees with leaves changing colors. Sehun’s heart beats a little faster when he realizes how much like a date this feels. Sehun feels like he’s been taken out of his own life and dropped in some shojo manga.   
  
"This place is great for when the library gets to stifling."  
  
Luhan pulls out the books again and Sehun forces himself to pay attention while simultaneously brainstorming how to get over his hopeless crush.   


 

 

 

 

  
That day, Mr. Kim decides to give the class a work day for their creative writing projects. Of course, the entire class interprets this as a no work day and spends the hour talking about everything that isn’t English class. Mr. Kim doesn’t seem to care and just smiles at his students while playing piano tiles on his phone.  
  
“I mean, it’s pretty obvious that I like him. I’m pretty sure everyone knows I like him,” Sehun complains to Jongin.  
  
“Except him, of course,” Jongin deadpans while staring at something on his phone, obviously checked out of the conversation.   
  
“He’s receptive of literally everything else too. Like the other day I was upset and he took me to the courtyard and it was so romantic and pretty,” Sehun sighs.   
  
He waits for Jongin to respond and when he doesn’t, Sehun just continues on, “I mean, it’s not like I have a chance with him even if he did notice. He’s totally out of my league and he’s friends with all these cool people. Except Chanyeol and Kris maybe.”   
  
Jongin’s face has ‘ _omfg why do I have to deal with this’_  written all over it, but Sehun ignores it.  
  
“It’s just. The entire situation is getting on my nerves.”   
  
“Then ditch him,” Jongin drones, rolling his eyes. Sehun huffs at his best friend for not listening and decides to retaliate.  
  
“So how’s Yixing?” Sehun smirks, knowing he’s hit a chord. Jongin turns a light shade of pink.   
  
“He’s fine. What else would he be, you saw him yesterday.” Jongin’s voice gets defensive.   
  
“Yeah, well, you saw him this morning so I thought you’d have a more recent account,” Sehun prods.   
  
Jongin turns a darker shade of red and eyes the clock.  
  
“Oh, would you look at that, class is about to end!” Jongin exclaims in the fakest voice Sehun thinks he’s ever heard. Jongin quickly starts packing up his things, avoiding Sehun’s eyes.  
  
_Definitely suspicious._ Sehun decides that he’ll keep an eye on the both of them, because something is totally going on.   


 

 

 

  
  
“Sehun, you have to thrust  _harder_ ,” Yixing sounds exasperated.  
  
“I’m trying,” Sehun matches his tone.   
  
“Remember what I said. You’re crotch should imitate a-”  
  
“A jackhammer. I understand,” Sehun cuts Yixing off with irritation. If he hears him say “like a jackhammer” one more time he’s going to go crazy.  
  
Hyoyeon comes up to them. “Xing, go help J-hope out, he’s tripping over his feet. I’ll work with Sehun.” She gives Yixing a meaningful look.  
  
Yixing gives Sehun a sheepish smile that has sorry written all over it. Sehun smiles back and turns to Hyoyeon.   
  
“I don’t get what I’m doing wrong,” Sehun dejectedly wonders aloud.   
  
“Your movement is really tight today. Loosen up,” Hyoyeon suggests. Sehun shakes his body out and tries again.  
  
“See that’s a lot better. Try it again,” Hyoyeon encourages.   
  
Sehun runs the step a couple more times, loosening up a little more each time.   
  
“That’s perfect. Keep it up,” Hyoyeon winks. “Oh, looks like practice is over.”   
  
Sehun glances at the clock on the wall and then over to Jongin. He’s standing close to Yixing, eyes lit up, but face schooled into a look of “cool indifference” as he likes to call it. Yixing looks amused at whatever Jongin is saying. Sehun is on the verge of cracking up so he looks away to save Jongin the embarrassment.   
  
“I’m heading out then. See you soon, Sehun,” Hyoyeon walks toward the door.  
  
“Wait up, I’ll head out too. We have to talk about logistics for the first meet,” Yixing rushes after her. Jongin stares after him with a look of longing.  
  
“Go run after your Prince Charming, Cinderella,” Sehun teases. “I’m going to run this a couple more times anyway.” Jongin glares at him, but runs off anyways.   
  
Sehun dims the lights and turns the volume up on the sound system. He loses himself in the music and doesn’t notice when someone enters the room. When the song finally ends, he’s sweating and breathing heavy. He turns to the sound system to take it from the top, but spots Luhan standing awkwardly in the doorway.   
  
“Oh, um, hey,” Sehun offers. Luhan has an odd look on his face. In most situations Sehun would chalk it up to attraction, but this is Luhan, and Luhan feels nothing more than brotherly love for Sehun.   
  
Luhan stays silent for a few seconds and finally speaks. “Hi. Sehun,” Luhan’s voice sounds almost choked up. He clears his throat and tries again. “That was awesome.”   
  
Sehun scratches the back of his head. He’s pleased on the inside that Luhan has finally had a chance to see Sehun in his element. “Thanks,” Sehun pauses. “What are you doing up here?”.  
  
“I was supposed to give Xing a ride home. Do you know where we went?” Luhan asks.  
  
“He left with Hyoyeon discussing logistics?” Sehun is just as clueless. A second later, Luhan’s phone buzzes. Luhan laughs and shakes his head. Sehun tilts his head questioningly.  
  
“I guess he forgot and walked home instead,” Luhan explains. Sehun checks his phone as well, wondering if Jongin had anything to do with it.  
  
Jongin:  
_I’m heading home. Have fun walking alone sucker._    
  
Sehun rolls his eyes and chucks his phone into the duffle bag lying next to the door.  
  
“I didn’t know you were that good of a dancer. That was really good,” Luhan compliments.  
  
“You already said that,” Sehun teases, and Luhans ears go a little red. Luhan getting shy makes Sehun’s heart flutter a little.   
  
“I used to dance actually.” Sehun raises his eyebrows in interest at Luhan's confession. “I actually filled in last year for Hoya when he got sick before a big competition. I had to stop singing and dancing regularly ever since high school started. I had to pick between those and soccer, and we both know what happened with that.” They both laugh.   
  
“You sing too? I wanna hear,” Sehun nudges Luhan in the ribs, urging him.   
  
“Maybe later,” Luhan winks. Sehun feels his insides melting into a shapeless pile of nothing.   
  
They end up talking for a while, comfortably sprawling themselves out of the hardwood floors of the dance studio. Soon enough Sehun’s phone is ringing and he realizes that it’s very late and he hasn’t told his mother where he is. He grabs his phone and starts explaining.  
  
“Mom, I’m so sorry. I lost track of time in the dance studio, I’ll be home soon!” Thankfully she isn’t mad and Sehun sighs in relief.   
  
“I’ll get going then,” Sehun slowly picks up his duffel, wishing they could stay for longer.   
  
“No way. It’s late, and I’m driving you home,” Luhan insists. “I wouldn’t want you getting kidnapped this late at night.”  
  
“It’s 6 and the sun is still up,” Sehun argues. Luhan only tsks in response and drags him by the wrist to his car.   
  
They end up in Luhan’s car zooming down residential streets way too fast.   
  
“You drive like you’re on crack please slow down before you kill the both of us,” Sehun clutches the armrest and clamps his eyes shut. He’s jerked forward almost choking on his seatbelt when the car halts to a stop.  
  
“We’re here!” Luhan sings. Sehun takes a deep breath and unbuckles his seatbelt.  
  
“Thanks for the ride home,” Sehun unsteadily grits out. “I think.”   
  
“Anytime, Sehunnie!” Luhan’s eyes glint with mirth.  
  
“Never mind. I’m never getting in your car again,” Sehun grumbles.   
  
Luhan chuckles, “I’ll be more careful next time.” The idea of next time excites Sehun. They make eye contact for a couple seconds and then Sehun get’s out of the car and heads to his front door waving a goodbye to Luhan. Sehun’s heart is beating significantly faster than normal, and the minute he gets inside, he slumps against his front door hopelessly wishing the look in Luhan’s eyes actually meant something.  


 

 

 

  
  
Luhan:  
_Sehunnie ^.^  
I can’t make it today. Soccer stuff :((((  
Let’s reschedule?_  
  
Sehun:  
_Sure. Tell me whenever._  
  
Sehun heads over to the cafeteria, only to realize that Jongin is nowhere to be found. Sehun figures he’s up in the studio with Yixing, and he doesn’t really want to see what’s going on up there. Nonetheless, at least Jongin is getting somewhere with his love life. Despite his jealousy, as long as his best friend is happy, Sehun’s happy too.   
  
Instead of spending lunch alone, Sehun arrives at the newsroom, hoping to find Tao or Jongdae to keep him company. He enters to find Tao sitting at the main table, worshiping some cookies.  
  
“Kyungsoo?” Sehun asks, to which Tao nods enthusiastically. Sehun has joined Tao on a few adventures to the kitchens and gotten to know Kyungsoo pretty well. Other than those rare moments when Sehun catches Kyungsoo staring dreamily at the Amanda Seyfried picture he has up in his locker, he’s probably the most sane person out of all the people he’s met in high school. Kyungsoo hopes of becoming a successful chef one day, so everyone mooches off of his experiments that never fail to taste amazing.   
  
“Kyungsoo always gives you the delicious food. Not fair,” Sehun complains as he walks to his desk and crumples into his seat, sighing at nothing.   
  
“You look distressed,” Jongdae startles Sehun out of his stupor. “If you need someone to talk to…” Sehun looks up hopefully. “You can always share your issues with Chen by logging on to the Ask Chen page of our news website!”   
  
Sehun attempts to throw his stapler at Jongdae while the later shamelessly cackles.   
  
“Kidding,” Jongdae rolls closer on his chair. “What’s up, man.”  
  
“Everything kinda sucks,” Sehun hunches even more. “I still can’t think of what to write for my first piece.”  
  
“A sigh like that obviously meant more than just journalist woes,” Jongdae prods further. “Spill. What’s really up?”  
  
“Okay, fine,” Sehun takes a deep breath. “You better not tell anyone, I’m trusting you.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah I know,” Jongdae rolls his eyes.  
  
“So I have a crush on this upperclassman-” Sehun begins.  
  
“Luhan,” Jongdae states plainly. “Oh, stop staring at me like that. There isn’t a more obvious thing in the world. Now, go on.”   
  
“I just feel like the cards are stacked against me in every way. I mean, you don’t even know Luhan and you know that I like him. Luhan sees me everyday and I swear he’s denser than the Amazon forest. I don’t want to tell him because I already know that it’s going to ruin everything,” Sehun rants. “But he won’t keep his distance. He keeps texting me and talking to me outside of tutoring and it’s driving me crazy because I don’t know what to do. I feel like he’s everywhere.”   
  
“You’d be surprised, but I know exactly how you feel,” Jongdae grabs Sehun’s wrist and pulls him out of the news room, waving bye to Tao who is happily eating his cookies. “Let’s go on and adventure. I have a story to tell you.”   
  
Sehun lets himself get dragged to the bike racks. Jongdae pulls out his fancy looking bike with a seat on the back. “Get on, loser.”   
  
“No I’m not sitting on that thing,” Sehun says.   
  
Jongdae ignores Sehun's protests manages to wrestle Sehun onto the bike and Sehun wants to disappear because they both look stupid.   
  
They end up outside a Burger King two minutes away from school. He sees a few people he recognizes from school and quickly scrambles off the bike.   
  
“Eating endless amounts of fast food is like shopping for the heartbroken soul,” Jongdae shares his wisdom. “Therapeutic.” He takes out his wallet and slips out what looks like a Burger King gift card as they walk inside.  
  
“Be thankful. I’m spending my precious money on you today,” Jongdae tells Sehun.  
  
“You have a BK gift card?” Sehun asks incredulously.  
  
“Baekhyun buys me one every year for my birthday and loads it up with $100. It normally lasts me until my next birthday,” Jongdae explains. Sehun has to stop himself from laughing. He’d never have pegged Jongdae as a fast food enthusiast.   
  
A few minutes later they’re both sitting across from each other in a booth sipping chocolate milkshakes like 5 year olds and Sehun is seriously questioning his life choices.   
  
“You see, Sehun, our lives are awfully similar, so I’m going to share a story with you. Because bros gotta stick together, ya know?” Jongdae says. Sehun is officially terrified.   
  
“Turn back time to last year, when little freshman Jongdae was starting high school. Because he was quite the adorable and handsome guy, everyone wanted a piece of him, or more specifically his ass,” Jongdae begins his story.  
  
“I’m not stupid enough to believe that,” Sehun intones.   
  
“Shut up and stop interrupting.” Sehun rolls his eyes.   
  
“Fine. Go on,” he encourages.  
  
“Sadly enough for Jongdae, those people didn’t seem to do the trick for him. There was one junior, however, that never failed to make his heart beat at double speed every time Jongdae saw him,” Jongdae continues.  
  
“Okay, I’m really sorry, but can you please stop with the third person. It’s really distracting,” Sehun interrupts yet again.   
  
Jongdae pouts but heeds his suggestion. “I guess I thought it was possible for a while. I mean, we became really close friends and everything was going in the right direction, but slowly it started to hit me that it wasn’t going to work out. The guy worked himself to the bone, he barely had time for himself much less a relationship. On top of that, knowing my luck in the romance department, he’s probably straight.  
  
“So I hid it. I pride myself in being so good at it. Honestly, you’re the first one I’ve told. I don’t even know why, I guess I figured you’d understand.” For the first time ever, Sehun sees Jongdae without his cool exterior. He never thought Jongdae could be so vulnerable.   
  
“How do you deal with it?” Sehun asks.  
  
“I just keep being friends with him. Being around him makes me happy. Even though it fucking hurts, it’s better than not seeing him at all. Why do you think I spend so much time in the newsroom,” Jongdae raises his eyebrows obviously hinting.   
  
“Minseok hyung?” Sehun’s mouth drops open. Jongdae slumps over. They both sip their milkshakes in a comfortable silence.   
  
“Well anyways, who needs love when we have milkshakes and each other,” Jongdae jokes. They both look at each other and crack up for no reason.   
  
“Hold up, what’s the time,” Jongdae suddenly panics. Sehun checks his watch and springs up.  
  
“We have 7 minutes to get to class,” Sehun panics.  
  
“Looks like we’re going to have to run.” Jongdae says with a determined look on his face. They share a grin and take off sprinting towards Jongdae’s bike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So you’re good with the SAS postulate?” Luhan asks. It takes Sehun every ounce of his self control not to think about Luhan’s ass.   
  
“Yeah. I think so,” Sehun answers, and he is. Luhan is pretty amazing at teaching so Sehun pretty much has everything down. If he does as well as he thinks he can, he should be able to score an A on this test today.   
  
“So, anymore questions…?” Luhan inquires.   
  
“Um, not really, no,” Sehun responds flatly. They fall into an awkward silence and it feels like they’ve taken 5 giant steps backwards from where they were on Wednesday. Both of them seem unwilling to participate in conversation today so Sehun resorts to doing more practice problems. He never imagined he’d have to use math to lessen the awkwardness of any situation, especially a conversation with Luhan.   
  
The bell finally rings and Sehun is relieved. Perhaps Luhan’s mood is just off today. Sehun tries to convince himself and hopes that it’s true.  
  
By the time math comes around, Sehun couldn’t be more ready to get it over with. He flies through the test with practiced ease and by the time he’s done, he already knows that he’s gotten an A. At the end of class, Mr. Shim calls him up once again.  
  
“I’m impressed, Sehun,” Mr. Shim smirks. Sehun wonders if he’s capable of actually smiling. “You’ve improved by leaps and bounds in this class. I’m glad to see that sessions with Luhan have been helping you out.”   
  
Sehun is elated that Mr. Shim just complimented him.  
  
“Thanks Mr. Shim!” Sehun grins. Mr. Shim chuckles a little and it actually looks somewhat human.   
  
“You can scale back tutoring with Luhan to once a week, twice if needed.” Mr. Shim pauses. “Unless, of course, you two would like to keep meeting more.”  
  
Sehun chokes on his response. Even Mr. Shim knows about his crush.  
  
“Now get out. I have to go to practice.” Mr. Shim barks. Sehun slinks out of the room in terror. This is not the reality he wanted.  


 

 

 

  
  
Sehun has to admit, his life probably seems pretty great. He’s doing great on the dance team, making some great new friends, although if Junhong and J-hope keep calling him Jehun he’s going to punch them in the face. His pieces for the first issue were well received, and after that lunch with Jongdae he decided to write about off campus lunch and how it affects student life. The newsroom is slowly starting to become a second home to him. Jongdae, Tao and Sehun even make weekly visits to the culinary classrooms to hang out with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.   
  
Really, he should be happy, but alas he is Sehun and Sehun doesn’t come upon happiness too easily. Ever since that awkward Friday in the library, Luhan has been more distant. It’s obviously noticeable, and it leaves Sehun wallowing alone in the little brother zone.”   
  
“At least you’re in the friend zone,” He whines to Jongdae. “The little bro zone is so much worse. I feel like a child.”   
  
“You are a child, young grasshopper,” Jongdae rubs circles on his back consolingly as they sit in the newsroom drowning their sorrows in the Kimchi Spaghetti that Kyungsoo thoughtfully delivered to them.  
  
Tao pats his head in a comforting way with a cute little pout to show his sympathy, and Sehun wants to keep him forever because Tao never fails to make him smile. Their meal is interrupted when Minseok enters the newsroom.   
  
“I’ll grab some things give me a second,” Minseok says quickly walking toward his desk, dragging a confused looking Luhan behind him. “I need to go to the storage room wait here.”  
  
Minseok disappears behind the storage door and the room dips into silence. The tension is tangible and Jongdae is staring at Luhan with a stare that screams I _hate you, get the fuck out_.  
  
Minseok bursts back into the room and pauses. “What’s wrong?” He inquires only to be met with silence.   
  
“What did you and Sehun fight or something?” Minseok asks Luhan directly in a joking tone. “I thought you guys were friends.”   
  
Jongdae rubs Sehun’s knee sympathetically, but Sehun can’t take it anymore so he jumps out of his seat and runs out of the room, mumbling something about having to talk to Jongin.   
  
He finds himself in the courtyard because the silence is peaceful and Sehun is in dire need of peace. Looking around makes him think of Luhan though, and Sehun’s eyes start feeling watery (stupid fall allergies). He hears someone enter the courtyard and rolls his eyes.   
  
“It’s okay Jongdae, I’m fine,” he chuckles a bit for effect.  
  
“Are you sure about that? You don’t look so fine.” Sehun panics because that voice does not belong to Jongdae.   
  
Luhan takes a seat next to him on the courtyard bench. “Come on, what’s up?” Luhan urges.  
  
Sehun sighs and decides to tell him the truth. Or at least part of the truth. “I thought we were friends Luhan.” You’ve been avoiding me for the last couple weeks, it’s really obvious. Did I do something wrong?” Sehun’s voice is quiet and unsure.   
  
“What? No, of course you didn’t,” Luhan takes a deep breath. “I’ve just been busy and kinda stressed out about… things. I didn’t realize I was acting like that.”   
  
“That’s really all?” Sehun asks.  
  
“Really,” Luhan confirms with a smile. Sehun can tell it’s kind of strained. He must really be stressed out after all.  
  
They sit together in a comfortable silence, and Sehun decides that if he can save his friendship with Luhan, maybe that’s enough.   


 

 

 

 

  
“He’s totally in love with you Sehun. At first I thought it was one sided but wow, the way he looks at you is disgusting,” Jongdae attempts to convince Sehun who is poured over his books studying for midterms.   
  
“I don’t get how you don’t see it Sehun. It’s like, really obvious,” Jongin adds. Sehun huffs in frustration.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I look at his face everyday and it’s not disgusting,” Sehun pauses. “Well not like that anyways. We’re just friends. Leave me alone I’m trying to study.”   
  
Ever since their heart to heart, Sehun has been seeing more and more of Luhan. He’s always dropping by the studio after practices or stopping by the newsroom during lunch to hang out with everyone. Sometimes Luhan even drags him off to the courtyard to hang out, and Sehun has come to think of it as their “spot”.  
  
“He’s dragged you off to your “spot” like 10 times in the last week,” Jongin pouts. “He’s stealing you away from us.”   
  
“Guys come on. We hang out every day. And let’s not pretend like you two don’t ditch me for your crushes all the time,” Sehun counters.  
  
“See, you’re admitting it!” Jongdae exclaims.  
  
“I’m not admitting anything. Luhan and I are finally in a good place guys. I’m actually kind of happy for once so let’s just not. Now shut up and study,” Sehun commands. The other two grudgingly open their books and drop the subject.   


 

 

 

  
  
“Okay, as much as I’m totally acing Geometry right now, math is still gross,” Sehun laughs as Luhan gasps in mock horror.   
  
“He lies!” Luhan dramatically announces. “Do this problem.”   
  
“It looks hard,” Sehun groans.   
  
“If you want to keep getting As you’re going to have to keep doing the hard ones Sehun.”  
  
“Fine.” Sehun picks up his pencil and starts working. Luhan chatters behind him as usual. Today, he can’t seem to stop talking about soccer.  
  
“If we win the next game we’re going to make it to the State finals. We’re so close I can’t believe it,” Luhan gushes.   
  
“Congratulations,” Sehun responds hoping that this conversation topic doesn’t require him to spew any of his minimal soccer knowledge, which is limited to ‘Lionel Messi is a soccer player’ and ‘Cristiano Ronaldo has a hot body’.   
  
“Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve never seen you at any of the games this season,” Luhan says in an accusatory tone.  
  
“Oh um, I actually don’t understand soccer too well so…” Sehun explains truthfully. Really, he wouldn’t mind going, despite knowing nothing about the game. Jongdae goes all the time to watch Minseok and asks Sehun to tag along, but seeing Luhan in his element (all hot and sweaty) is probably not the best way for him to get over his crush.  
  
“Wait. You tried out for the team though. And I talk about soccer a lot. How come you never told me?” Luhan looks rightfully shocked.   
  
Sehun shrugs and makes up a lie on the spot, “My mom wanted me to branch out in high school or something, so I did it to appease her?”  
  
Sehun hopes his excuse is believable.   
  
“You should have told me before!” Luhan accuses. He probably feels bad for having so many one sided conversations that Sehun couldn’t understand. “I would have taught you everything!”   
  
Or that.   
  
“Wow this whole time I thought you loved soccer because you tried out,” Luhan looks shocked. “So you weren’t really nervous that day, were you? You actually suck at it.”   
  
Luhan starts laughing uncontrollably.   
  
“Fuck you,” Sehun frowns.  
  
“Anyways, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, a lot of people show up anyways. Come to watch me,” Luhan tries to make a cute face, and Sehun fakes disgust even though he thinks it’s adorable. “And Minseok, of course.”   
  
Sehun sighs to himself. Of course he should watch Minseok as well. Why does Sehun even bother.   


 

 

 

 

  
Apparently, this upcoming game is the biggest game of the season, because it’s not only the state final qualifier but they’re also playing their biggest rival school. Sehun debates whether or not he should go.   
  
“Come on, even I’m going,” Jongin pleads as they walk home together. The autumn chill has set in and Sehun reminds himself to bring a coat tomorrow.   
  
“You’re only going because Yixing convinced you. I thought you didn’t believe in organized sports,” Sehun teases.   
  
“Everyone is going and you are too whether you like it or not,” Jongin threatens. “There’s enough of us to kidnap you successfully anyways, so don’t worry about it.”   
  
Sehun doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  
  
Game day rolls around and Sehun, Tao and Jongin are all sitting in Sehun’s living room waiting. The door bell finally rings and the three of them scramble up and run to the door, opening it to reveal Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Jongdae. Combined they make the school’s prestigious vocal trio, but in reality when they’re together it’s just Baekhyun and Jongdae pulling pranks and Kyungsoo looking pissed off.   
  
“Where’s Chanyeol?” Sehun asks. Even though Chanyeol is part of Luhan’s friend group and practically lives at Yixing’s house, Sehun rarely spots Baekhyun without a flailing Chanyeol clinging to him.   
  
“With his other crew,” Jongdae says. “He’s too large to fit in our car. We’re already overfilled.”  
  
“If I get caught and go to jail I’m murdering you all,” Baekhyun threatens. “Behave yourselves.”   
  
They all pile into Baekhyun’s 5 seater SUV. It’s a tight fit, and Jongdae keeps complaining about being squished between 3 giant babies, but the school isn’t too far from Sehun’s house so they manage.   
  
When they get onto the bleachers, Baekhyun spots Chanyeol and drags everyone over to sit behind him, Yixing, Kris, Amber and Joonmyun. Jongin ditches Sehun’s side to go sit next to Yixing, so he ends up between Jongdae and an overly excited Tao. They’re all standing up, and Sehun sees Yixing slip his hand into Jongin's back pocket, Jongdae and Sehun’s mouths simultaneously drop wide open. Jongin turns around and sees them gawking.   
  
“Get your own dick,” he smirks and turns back around like nothing happened. Jongdae and Sehun are quite confused. They both spend the next couple minutes forlornly staring at their unattainable true loves.  

As the game goes on, Jongdae and Sehun both try to help each other make sense of the it. Turns out Jongdae is worse when it comes to soccer than he is. The poor guy doesn’t even know who Cristiano Ronaldo is, and Sehun has to educate him on how much he’s missing out with some helpful images.  
  
It all comes down to Minseok scoring the winning goal and Sehun finally seeing that genuine smile that he was so curious about on Mr. Shim’s face. The entire school rushes the field and Sehun joins them, but finds himself alone in the crowd of people. Kris and Amber are slightly off field holding hands, Yixing has an arm wrapped around Jongin’s waist as they congratulate Junhong, Tao is taking pictures with his DSLR and Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are all celebrating together. Even Jongdae has an arm slung around Minseok’s shoulder. They’re both smiling at each other, and for the first time Sehun thinks that maybe Jongdae’s love isn’t so one sided after all.   
  
Sehun looks for Luhan to congratulate him, but when his eyes find him in the crowd, Luhan is surrounded by his teammates. Sehun himself is just that random freshman Luhan hangs out with occasionally and slowly, he wonders to himself whether he truly belongs there or not. He certainly doesn’t feel that way, so he turns away and walks off the field, quickly shooting everyone a text that he’s not feeling well.   
  
Sehun gets to the front of the school and starts on his way home.  
  
“Sehun wait!” He hears behind him.  
  
Sehun sighs turning around. “Luhan.”  
  
“You left without saying hi. Or bye for that matter,” Luhan complains. Sehun doesn't even have the energy to school his expression into something resembling happiness. “Is everything okay?” Luhan looks concerned.   
  
“I’m fine. I’m feeling kinda tired so I’ll just head home.” Sehun motions towards the field, “Go back to your friends."  
  
“Hey, you’re my friend too. They’re your friends too.” Luhan’s eyebrows are furrowed.   
  
“I know. I’m just tired.”  _Too tired to pretend tonight_.  
  
He turns around and starts walking away but Luhan grabs his hand and drags him inside the school.   
  
“What the hell.” Sehun tries to twist his hand out of Luhan’s grip, but Luhan seems determined to not let Sehun leave. They end up in the locker rooms.  
  
“Wait here, I’ll change and take you home.” Luhan has a serious look in his eyes.   
  
“My house is like two seconds away, I’m perfectly fine by myself,” Sehun argues.  
  
“It’s 10:30 at night Sehun, it’s too dangerous for anyone to be out alone. I’ll walk you home, end of story.”   
  
Sehun is about to argue that Luhan is probably wanted at some crazy after party right now, or how their town is probably in the top ten safest places to raise your children, but he knows Luhan is too stubborn to listen.   
  
Luhan sets an agonizingly slow pace as they walk home. Every time Sehun so much as speeds up a little, he finds himself being dragged back by Luhan who claims his legs are too tired to go any faster. They walk in silence because Sehun isn’t in the mood for conversation. As they pass by the park, Sehun looks at it nostalgically. He remembers going and playing there with Jongin every Friday after school. Things were so much easier back then. Luhan seems to notice Sehun staring, so he drags Sehun to the park and plops down in one of the swings. Sehun follows suit.   
  
“So…” they both say at the same time.   
  
“You first,” Luhan says eyes twinkling in the light from the lampposts. Sehun could stare at them forever.   
  
_Fine_. He thinks in his head.  _I’ll go first._.  
  
“I like you,” Sehun blurts out suddenly. It comes out without him even realizing, but he figures it's for the better and goes along with it. “Like, in a totally non platonic way.”   
  
Sehun takes a deep breath, now that it’s out there, there’s no going back.   
  
“I’ve liked ever since the first time I laid eyes on you, even though you spilled gross spaghetti on me. You’re perfect and gorgeous and so accomplished. You care about me in little ways and always ask if I’m okay, and it makes me like you even more.  
  
“I like you even though you annoy me by talking about soccer for like two hours straight every time we see each other. You’re oblivious as fuck, I mean even Mr. Shim knows about my crush for gods sake, but no matter how hard I try I can’t will it away,” Sehun finishes, gulping for air. His heart is thundering in panic and all he wants is for Luhan to say something. Anything.   
  
But all Luhan does is stare at him with his mouth hanging open as if he can’t believe anything that just came out of Sehun’s mouth. Sehun feels the disappointment and fear set in. Of course he’s surprised. Sehun is just another underclassman to Luhan. He always has been.   
  
Sehun screwed up big time. Things are going to get awkward and he probably just lost one of his good friends that happens to be close to all of his other good friends. His eyes well up and he jumps off the swing mumbling a barely audible “I’m sorry.”   
  
He bolts out of the park and runs home faster than he’s ever ran in his life. Maybe he’s too wrapped up in his own thoughts to realize that Luhan is calling after him, telling him to wait.  
  
The minute he gets home he collapses on his bed and the tears won’t stop.   


 

 

 

 

  
  
Sehun wakes up to 39 missed calls and worried texts from Jongdae, Jongin, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Tao.   
  
Jongin:  
_You’re sick? Are you okay???_  
  
Jongdae:  
_BITCH YOU CAN’T JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT MAN THIS IS NOT OKAY._  
  
Kyungsoo:  
_Where the hell are you. If you’re dead or kidnapped, I’m never forgiving you._  
  
Baekhyun:   
_You can’t just walk home alone like that, it’s dangerous. Especially when you’re sick. I could have given you a ride. Are you doing okay?_  
  
Tao:  
_Can’t find you :(_  
  
Sehun looks at his phone and sighs. He should probably call one of them back. Deciding on Jongdae, because Jongin is gross and in love and Sehun doesn’t want to talk to him, he dials the number and waits.   
  
After 3 rings Jongdae picks up with a, “You little bitch. We’ve all been worried sick. ARE YOU OKAY?”  
  
“I fucked up,” Sehun cries. “I fucked up so bad Jongdae what should I do.”   
  
“Okay, calm down, as long as you’re not knocked up this is something we can work through,” Jongdae soothes. Or at least attempts to. “Now spit it out.”  
  
He tells Jongdae everything that happened at the park last night and how Luhan stared at him without saying anything.   
  
“That fucker. My god he’s so in love with you, what is he doing?” Jongdae seems to be talking to himself more than to Sehun.   
  
After a lot of tearful whining and Jongdae’s attempted consoling, Sehun puts down the phone and curls up under his covers again. He’s really hungry but he feels too upset to get up and go eat something. Instead he just lies there crying with his stomach growling.   
  
Half an hour later, Sehun’s wallow fest is interrupted by the incessant ringing of his doorbell. He slinks downstairs and opens the door to find Jongdae, Jongin, Kyungsoo, Tao, Baekhyun and, most surprisingly, Chanyeol at his door.   
  
“What the fuck are you guys doing here. Go home,” Sehun attempts to slam the door in their faces but he is outnumbered. They barge past him and get comfortable in his house.   
  
With Jongin’s intimate knowledge of Sehun’s house, they’re able to get settled in the family room fighting over what movie to watch, while Kyungsoo sets up shop in the kitchen.   
  
“Hold on, what are you guys doing? I never approved of this.” Sehun yells, only to be met with no answer. Instead, Jongin just comes up to him and pats him on the head.  
  
“You look disgusting.” He looks concerned. Chanyeol elbows him in the ribs.   
  
“Be sensitive,” he stage whispers.  
  
“Chanyeol, I can hear you,” Sehun says exasperatedly. Chanyeol gives him a sheepish smile and shrug. Sehun wonders since when they became so close. As far as he can remember, Chanyeol was just the weird obsessive fanboy that stood in the corner of the studio during dance practice with a sparkly sign that read “Jongin’s biggest fan”. He’s since then stopped after getting into a heated argument with Baekhyun, who felt neglected. Sehun doesn’t know how he ended up befriending so many strange people in high school.  
  
Suddenly he remembers that Chanyeol is best friends with Yixing. Who is best friends with Luhan. Which makes Chanyeol the enemy. For that matter, Jongin is the enemy too.   
  
“Get away from me you traitors,” Sehun pushes past them, almost knocking them both over.   
  
“Is he okay?” Jongin asks.   
  
Chanyeol just shrugs. “I think he hates me.”   
  
“Of course he hates you, you’re friends with Luhan, you dumbfuck. I told you not to come,” Baekhyun hollers from the family room. Chanyeol ignores this and walks over to cuddle into Baekhyun’s side.   
  
“Where Baekkie goes Channie goes too,” Chanyeol says cutely.   
  
“Y’all are disgusting. Take it outside,” Jongdae groans.   
  
Everyone seems to think the entire situation is perfectly normal. All his friends sitting in his living room, Tao taking pictures of his furniture, and Kyungsoo shouting questions to Jongin about where things are. Sehun just sighs and gives up, taking a seat next to Jongdae and accepting his reality.  
  
“We’re staging an intervention,” Jongdae finally explains.  
  
“Gosh, I just got rejected yesterday. Give a guy some time.” Sehun rolls his eyes.   
  
“He’s lying,” Baekhyun clarifies. “Actually we were just bored. We figured being around your friends would make you feel better anyways.”   
  
Sehun realizes that all the noise and action around him is helping him take his mind off of things after all.   
  
“Anyways, the important matter at hand is which breakup movie we’re going to watch,” Jongdae announces to the room. “I’m going with 500 Days of Summer.”   
  
“Do you want to make him cry more. Let’s go for something more harmless.” Baekhyun holds up another DVD. “10 Things I Hate About You is obviously the better choice.”   
  
“Heath Ledger is dead. That itself will make all of us cry. Also it’s not even about a breakup. ”   
  
“People who just got rejected don’t want to watch a movie about people breaking up, Jongdae,” Baekhyun argues.  
  
Kyungsoo struts into the room and interrupts their argument. “We’re watching Legally Blonde. End of discussion.”  
  
“Okay,” Jongdae and Baekhyun chorus, dropping the subject like a hot potato. Jongdae scrambles to the DVD player and puts the movie in. On the inside, Sehun laughs at how much control Kyungsoo has over, well, everyone.   
  
The movie gets rolling and Kyungsoo brings out delicious baked goods that Sehun immediately starts scarfing down. Sehun is only half focusing on the movie, the other half of him instead thinking about Luhan and how he managed to get himself into this mess. Sehun barely notices when Chanyeol comes and sits down next to him.  
  
“Hey,” Chanyeol whispers. Sehun has to stop himself from screaming and throwing his plate of food at Chanyeol’s face.   
  
“Hi, Chanyeol,” Sehun takes deep breaths to calm himself.  
  
“You’re not really mad at me are you?” Chanyeol looks worried. Sehun laughs quietly.  
  
“Of course not.”  
  
“Good. I was worried.” Sehun flicks him in the head for being stupid. “Anyways, I just wanted to tell you to not feel so bad about the Luhan thing.”   
  
Sehun frowns.   
  
“I know I sound crazy, but I’ve known him for years. It’s really obvious that he likes you Sehun. Trust me, we give him crap about him all the time,” Chanyeol explains. “Luhan’s the kind of guy who seems perfect on the outside but marathons video games on the weekends and keeps bags of chips in his nightstand so that he doesn’t have to get out of bed when he’s hungry.”   
  
Sehun shamelessly tucks that idea away for future use.   
  
“Luhan is kind of stupid with his emotions too. You might think that Luhan rejected you, but in reality he just has the emotional processing speed of a snail that just got run over by a truck,” Chanyeol continues. “It might not feel possible now, but just keep living your life. He’ll come around.”  
  
“And what if he doesn’t?” Sehun asks with a small voice.   
  
“Then he didn’t deserve you in the first place,” Chanyeol slings an arm around Sehun’s shoulder. “It’ll all work out in the end, whatever happens.”   
  
Sehun takes comfort in Chanyeol’s words and hopes more than anything that they’re true.  


 

 

 

 

  
  
Sehun takes Chanyeols advice in stride when he struts into school on Monday, dressed to impress and acting like he didn’t cry himself to sleep that Friday. He passes by Luhan on the way to Bio in the morning, making accidental eye contact. Luhan looks panicked and tears his eyes away first, leaving Sehun to sigh to himself and repeat Chanyeol’s words like a mantra in his head.   
  
Luhan avoids him for the rest of the day and Sehun is really close to being done and telling Chanyeol he can’t do it. At the end of the day as he’s walking out of Mr. Shim’s class, he gets pulled back for the first time in months.   
  
“Is anything wrong? I did okay on my test right? At least I thought…” Sehun trails off.  
  
“I haven’t graded them yet, but what I wanted to saw was, with how well you’ve been doing in this class you probably don’t need a tutor anymore.” Sehun marvels at Mr. Shim’s impeccable timing.  
  
“Unless you want to…?” Mr. Shim adds when Sehun doesn’t respond.  
  
“No, no. I don’t want to. At all.” Sehun forces a smile. “Could you just let Luhan know at practice today?” he pleads. Mr. Shim nods and opens his mouth to say something. “I know, I know. I’ll get out so you can go to practice.”   
  
Sehun offers a small smile and wave, catching the suspicious look on Mr. Shim’s face. He doesn’t catch what Mr. Shim mumbles after Sehun leaves.  
  
“If something is up between them…” Mr. Shim’s eyes widen in terror. “We’re fucked for state.”  


 

 

 

 

  
  
A week and a half later, Sehun is seriously starting to doubt Chanyeol’s words of advice, because Luhan is being really dumb. Sehun even decides to hold out an olive branch and wave hi to Luhan when they pass in the hall, but Luhan just stares at him like he’s about to get hit by a bus. Sehun is starting to get a little more than pissed because not only did Luhan not come around like Chanyeol said he would, he's also avoiding him like he’s the Black Plague personified.  
  
Sehun figures that since they used to be friends, the least Luhan could do is say hi to him, even if there are no mutual feelings. But if Luhan wasn't going to participate he decides that two can play the game, and begins to avoid Luhan in return.  
  
“Can’t even blame him,” Yixing whispers to Jongin during dance practice one day when they think Sehun isn’t in earshot.   
  
“Have you talked to Luhan?” Jongin asks.  
  
“Of course we have. He’s on some kind of path to self destruction. I don’t know what to say to him anymore. It’s not like Sehun doesn’t have better things to do than wait around for Luhan to get his shit together.” Yixing makes a face.   
  
“Has he said anything about Sehun at all?”  
  
“Just that he needs time. We don’t understand why he’s having such hard time coming to terms with his feelings.”   
  
“Well why can’t he just say that to Sehun’s face. It would save him the trouble of wondering what’s going on in Luhan’s head.” Sehun can hear the frustration laced in Jongin’s voice.   
  
Sehun is aching to know that as well.   
  
The others try their best to force the two to meet. Minseok drags Luhan to the newsroom multiple times and Yixing brings him up to the studio as well.   
  
“I’m sorry your future boyfriend is being a dick,” Jongin tells him one day when they’re sitting in the kitchens waiting for Kyungsoo to make them something delicious. For some reason Sehun thinks about last week when Jongin advised him to “get his own dick”. It’s quite ironic how things worked out this way after all.   
  
What Sehun doesn’t know is that Luhan is actually falling apart. Specifically, on the soccer field. His denial and confusion haven’t been doing his soccer skill much good, and Coach Shim looks like he’s close to a mental breakdown. After witnessing Luhan trip over his feet one too many times, and seeing Sehun sigh dramatically in class every five minutes, Mr. Shim realizes that something needs to be done. If Luhan keeps playing at the same level, there’s no way in hell they’re going to win. So Mr. Shim takes it into his own hands, and comes up with a plan.   


 

 

 

 

  
It’s a week before the state final game, and tensions are running high throughout the school. This is the best chance the school has had in two years. Last year during state, Minho was injured and Minseok was running a fever.   
  
Sehun sits in math class listening to everyone chatter about the game around him. For some reason Mr. Shim ended class early and was texting somebody furiously on his phone.  
  
_That is really suspicious_ , Sehun thinks to himself. Mr. Shim never ends class early and Sehun didn’t even imagine that he knew how to operate modern technology. He’d always assumed that Mr. Shim communicated using sorcery or something equally weird and frightening.   
  
The bell finally rings and Mr. Shim calls Sehun back. By now he’s used to it, so he just trudges up to his desk and waits. Mr. Shim has his serious face on, and Sehun starts to get nervous because he hasn’t seen this face since their first talk about Sehun failing the class. He feels the anxiety creep up inside him.  
  
“Is there something wrong with my test grade?” Sehun asks in a desperate, nervous way. Mr. Shim sighs.   
  
“Yes,” he pauses. “but I think that it’s better if we review it together.” Mr. Shim sounds dead serious. Sehun wants to cry because not only is he doing bad in math without Luhan, but he also has to spend the next however long getting sarcastic commentary on how stupid he is from Mr. Shim.  
  
“It’s in my office. Stay here while I go grab it,” Mr. Shim requests. Sehun pulls the chair from his desk up to Mr. Shim’s. He sinks down into it and waits. Two minutes later, Sehun is wondering how hard finding his test can be when he hears a voice from the hallway.  
  
“Okay Coach Shim, I understand that my playing has been a little rough lately, but please don’t cut me from the team before the last game of the season. I just need some time and I’ll-” Luhan enters the room and abruptly stops talking. “You’re not Coach Shim. You’re Sehun.”  
  
“And you're not my math test, but it's good to know you remember my name. I wasn’t so sure you did,” Sehun bitterly deadpans.   
  
Luhan’s face falls and Sehun almost feels bad until he remember who’s fault this mess is anyways. Luhan stands in the doorway shuffling his feet until someone pushing him inside. They both spot Mr. Shim casually leaning against the door frame with a knowing smirk on his face.   
  
“You guys obviously have some issues that you need to work out, so I’m giving you the perfect opportunity. I am leaving you guys here, sincerely hoping that I never again have to see Luhan face plant on the field from tripping over his feet.” With that, he shuts the door and Sehun scrambles after him to wrench it open to no avail.  
  
The both of them can hear evil cackling from the other side and a muffled voice. “Don’t bother asking your friends. I told Minseok and Jongin to tell everyone to ignore you guys.” Sehun hears Mr. Shim’s footsteps fading into the distance as the room descends into yet another awkward silence. Luhan lurks next to the door while Sehun stalks back to his backpack and takes out his homework. He waits for Luhan to say something, and just as he’s about to give up and start screaming when he hears a timid “I’m sorry” from the corner of the room.  
  
“Excuse me, what did you say?” Sehun asks flippantly. Sehun gets up and walks a little closer to Luhan.   
  
“I’m sorry,” Luhan says louder, still staring at his shoes.   
  
“Are you kidding me? I’m sorry? Is that really all you have to say? Luhan I poured my heart out to you and not only did you say absolutely nothing, but you also pretended I didn’t exist for an entire week. The least you could do is reject me so I don’t have to keep waiting around for you to answer me. I can take it Luhan, contrary to what you seem to think, I’m not a kid.”   
  
Luhan is gaping at him again. Sehun sighs.  
  
“Just tell me Luhan,” Sehun pleads in a tired voice, stepping closer.   
  
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Luhan responds, voice louder.  
  
“What?” Sehun is frowning again.  
  
“I’m leaving next year Sehun.” Luhan grabs Sehun’s hand. “No matter how much I think about you and how long I’ve wanted to hold your hand like this, I’m leaving next year. I don’t want you to get tied down to me. You have so much to experience without having to deal with a long distance relationship and a boyfriend that’s in college.” Luhan takes a deep breath and continues.  
  
“I’m sorry for ignoring you but I was scared. I don’t know what to do Sehun, every time I’m with you I just want to stay in that moment. I like you too much to control myself. I can’t stop wanting to be with you,” Luhan sighs.  
  
“Then don’t,” Sehun whispers. Somehow he’s gotten close enough to Luhan that Luhan is backed against the door and their faces are inches apart. Sehun leans in.  
  
“We shouldn’t-” Luhan breathes out.  
  
“Oh, shut up.” Sehun kisses him before he can say anything back. Luhan quickly starts kissing back and the only thing running through Sehun’s mind is the word  _finally_.   
  
When they pull back for air Luhan starts again. “But Sehun-”  
  
“Luhan, whatever relationship I’m in is a decision that I’m going to make myself. I don’t care if we’re long distance or your far away. We still have almost 9 months until we have to deal with that stuff.” Sehun pulls Luhan in for a hug. “Enjoy the moment and stop over thinking for once, because it’s been making things difficult for everybody.” Luhan chuckles into Sehun’s chest.   
  
“Fine,” he says sighing contentedly. “I’ll definitely enjoy the moment.”  
  
“By the way, you owe me big time for all that drama.” Sehun whines pulling back from the hug.   
  
“Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to pay you back for it,” Luhan appeases. Sehun starts leaning in again.  
  
“I can think of a few ways myself…”   


 

 

 

  
  
The two of them end up sitting on the floor and cuddling, catching up on the week they missed in each other’s life. Slowly time ticks by and an hour later Sehun starts getting worried.   
  
“Why is nobody coming to get us,” Sehun wonders. “It’s been an hour and half already.”   
  
They start texting and calling everyone, but nobody picks up or texts back, despite them swearing that they’ve figured things out. Eventually they give up and keep cuddling.   
  
“I’m bored,” Luhan announces.  
  
“You could always keep paying me back. You have a lot of that left to do.” Sehun leans in giggling a little. They start kissing and before he knows it, Sehun’s tongue is exploring Luhan’s mouth and Luhan’s hand is sneaking under Sehun’s T-Shirt. The door bursts open and they spring apart.  
  
They find themselves staring at a horrified Mr. Shim. “Okay, let’s make this clear. I never want to see that happening again. Ever.”  
  
Mr. Shim visibly shudders in disgust, and Sehun has to do everything he can to keep himself from cracking up.   
  
Luhan drives Sehun home, lightly holding his hand over the gear shift. They’re both smiling like idiots, and Sehun can’t remember feeling this good in a long time. When they arrive at Sehun’s house, Luhan pulls Sehun in for a quick peck and whispers “see you tomorrow” before he gets out of the car.   
  
Sehun spends the rest of the night half focusedly doing his homework while texting Luhan. He finds himself on his bed at 3 in the morning still texting Luhan, eyes drooping as he falls into the first peaceful sleep he’s had in months.   


 

 

 

  
  
One week after Luhan and Sehun’s grand reunion, Sehun is getting squished between the door to Baekhyun’s SUV and Tao. It’s finally game day, and the entire crew is piled into the SUV once again, hopefully for the last time ever.   
  
They’ve gone all out this time, dressed outrageously in school colors, complete with face paint and boas. Even Jongin paired a school t-shirt with his ridiculously tight jeans, instead of one of those “fashionable” sweaters that shows more skin than it covers.   
  
It’s a pretty tight fit in the bleachers with the entire school stuffed into a confined space. Between Jongdae and Jongin, Sehun has no queues for when to cheer, so he just screams when he sees Luhan or Minseok do something that looks important.   
  
They win easily. Minseok scores a goals in the first half, followed by two from Luhan in the second. It’s Junhong that ends up scoring the winning goal, much to everyone’s surprise, and by the end of the game he’s been dubbed their school’s future soccer star, although Yixing refuses to let him quit the dance team in the future.   
  
They all rush the field again as confetti falls around them. Everyone is jumping and screaming and Sehun spots Luhan being lifted on to his teammates shoulders with the trophy in his hands. Luhan looks around and catches Sehun’s eye, quickly scrambling down and handing off the trophy to an elated Junhong with a pat on the back. He runs over to where Sehun is standing.   
  
“Why are you so far away?” Luhan asks, whining slightly but still grinning widely.   
  
“Wouldn’t want to steal to spotlight from the captain of the team himself,” Sehun plays along. “Anyways, I thought it was time you did some chasing yourself.”  
  
Luhan laughs and wraps his arms around Sehun’s neck, kissing him under the lights of the stadium and falling confetti.   
  
“Don’t worry you’ll never have to chase after me again,” Luhan pulls away, eyes shining.   
  
“I’ll hold you to it.” Sehun slings his arm around Luhan’s shoulder as they make their way to where their friends are all celebrating. Sehun realizes that this is happy ending he was hoping for the whole time.  
  
It might have taken a lot to get here, but looking around at the smiling faces of his friends, and his own grin that’s mirrored on Luhan’s face, Sehun decides that in the end, it was totally worth it.   
  
  
  


 

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and share if you liked it!! <3


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